Sec. 1. (a) An applicant is eligible for a first year higher education award under this chapter if the student meets the following requirements:

(1) The applicant is a resident of Indiana, as defined by the commission.

(2) The applicant:

(A) has successfully completed the program of instruction at an approved secondary school;

(B) has been granted a:

(i) high school equivalency certificate before July 1, 1995; or

(ii) state of Indiana general educational development (GED) diploma under IC 20-10.1-12.1 (before its repeal), IC 20-20-6 (before its repeal), or IC 22-4.1-18; or

(C) is a student in good standing at an approved secondary school and is engaged in a program that in due course will be completed by the end of the current academic year.

(3) The financial resources reasonably available to the applicant, as defined by the commission, are such that, in the absence of a higher education award under this chapter, the applicant would be deterred from completing the applicant's education at the approved postsecondary educational institution that the applicant has selected and that has accepted the applicant. In determining the financial resources reasonably available to an applicant to whom IC 21-18.5-4-8 applies, the commission must consider the financial resources of the applicant's legal parent.

(4) The applicant will use the award initially at that approved postsecondary educational institution.

(5) The student is enrolled full time in an approved postsecondary educational institution and making satisfactory academic progress, as determined by the postsecondary educational institution, toward a first baccalaureate degree.

(6) The student declares, in writing, a specific educational objective or course of study and enrolls in:

(A) courses that apply toward the requirements for completion of that objective or course of study; or

(B) courses designed to help the student develop the basic skills that the student needs to successfully achieve that objective or continue in that course of study.

(7) The student is not eligible to receive a twenty-first century scholarship under IC 21-12-6.

(8) The student is not eligible to receive a:

(A) National Guard tuition supplement grant under IC 21-13-4; or

(B) scholarship under the National Guard scholarship extension program under IC 21-13-5.

(b) This subsection applies to an individual who:

(1) meets the requirements set forth in subsection (a); and

(2) before the date that eligibility is determined by the commission, has been placed by or with the consent of the department of child services, by a court order, or by a licensed child placing agency in:

(A) a foster family home;

(B) the home of a relative or other unlicensed caretaker;

(C) a child caring institution; or

(D) a group home.

The commission shall consider an individual to whom this subsection applies as a full-need student under the commission's rules when determining the eligibility of the individual to receive financial aid administered by the commission under this chapter.

[Pre-2007 Higher Education Recodification Citation: 20-12-21-6(a).]

As added by P.L.2-2007, SEC.253. Amended by P.L.168-2007, SEC.6; P.L.7-2011, SEC.12; P.L.107-2012, SEC.16; P.L.281-2013, SEC.6; P.L.217-2015, SEC.1; P.L.165-2016, SEC.5.