85-2105. Applicant; application; contents; commission; powers and duties; educational institution receiving payment; report required.

(1) An applicant for the Access College Early Scholarship Program shall complete an application form developed and provided by the commission and shall submit the form to his or her guidance counselor or other official designated by the school. Such application shall include, but not be limited to, the applicant's high school, social security number, date of birth, grade point average, grade level, qualified postsecondary educational institution, and information necessary to determine the student's eligibility. The guidance counselor or other official designated by the school shall verify the student's eligibility under the Access College Early Scholarship Program Act and shall forward the application to the commission for review within fifteen days following receipt of the form from the student. Notification of tuition and mandatory fees to be accrued by the student shall be provided to the commission by the student, high school, or qualified postsecondary educational institution as determined by the commission.

(2) The commission shall review the application and verify the student's eligibility under the act. The commission shall notify the student and the student's guidance counselor or other official designated by the school of the verification of eligibility and the estimated award amount in writing within thirty days following receipt of the form from the student's guidance counselor or other official designated by the school. The scholarship award shall equal the lesser of tuition and mandatory fees accrued by the student after any discounts applicable to such student from the qualified postsecondary educational institution or the tuition and mandatory fees that would have been accrued by the student for the same number of credit hours if the student were taking the course as a full-time, resident, undergraduate student from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The commission shall forward such amount directly to the qualified postsecondary educational institution as payment of such student's tuition and mandatory fees.

(3) The commission shall make such payments in the order the applications are received, except that the commission may limit the number of scholarships awarded in each term.

(4) The commission may limit the number of scholarships a student may receive.

(5) For any student receiving a scholarship pursuant to the act for tuition and mandatory fees, the qualified postsecondary educational institution receiving the payment shall report either the student's grade for the course or the student's failure to complete the course to the commission within thirty days after the end of the course or within one hundred eighty days after receipt of a payment pursuant to the act if the course for which the scholarship was awarded does not have a specified ending date. The commission shall keep the identity of students receiving scholarships confidential, except as necessary to comply with the requirements of the act.

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