1. A. Funds made available for higher education grants and scholarships under Chapter 143 of Title 59 of the 1976 Code, as amended under Act 458, South Carolina Children First: Resources for Scholarship and Tuition Act of 1996, shall be included in the annual appropriation to the Commission on Higher Education. Fifty percent of the appropriation shall be designated for the Palmetto Fellows Scholarship Program and the remaining fifty percent shall be for the Need-based Grants Program. However, in instances where the equal division of the appropriated funds between the Palmetto Fellows Scholarship and Need-based Grants Programs exceeds the capacity to make awards in either program, the Commission on Higher Education has the authority to re-allocate the remaining funds between the two programs. The Commission on Higher Education shall allocate to public or independent institutions on behalf of eligible State Need-based Grant students as follows:

   1. 1. Annual allocations of funds to the public institutions will be determined by the Commission on Higher Education using a methodology consistent with Section 59-142-40, South Carolina Code of Laws, 1976, as amended.
   2. 2. Annual allocations of funds to the independent institutions will be determined by the Commission on Higher Education using a methodology consistent with Section 59-142-40, South Carolina Code of Laws, 1976, as amended. The funds allocated for Need-based Grants shall be included in the annual appropriation to the Commission on Higher Education and transferred annually into the budget of the South Carolina Tuition Grants Commission, which will distribute these funds as Tuition Grants.
2. B. Independent and public institutions of higher learning in this, or any other state in the U.S., outside the U.S. or abroad are prohibited from using the SC Need-based Grant in programs that promote financial aid incentives or packages. Any mention of the SC Need-based Grant in these financial aid packages must indicate the scholarship to be separate from the University that is offering the financial aid package, and reference the SC Need-based Grant as a separate financial aid award, provided to the student by the State of South Carolina.

Editor's Note

See SCSR 45-8 Doc. No. 5048, effective August 13, 2021 for 90 days, which promulgated emergency amendments to SC ADC 62-450 to 62-505, providing the maximum funding amount that students may receive in a South Carolina Need-based Grant, as well as providing the institutions the ability to award and disburse the SC Need-based Grant for up to three terms a year, within the maximum annual funding amount to eligible students.

See SCSR 45-11 Doc. No. 5094, effective November 10, 2021 for 90 days, which promulgated emergency amendments to SC ADC 62-450 to 62-505, providing the maximum funding amount that students may receive in a South Carolina Need-based Grant, as well as providing the institutions the ability to award and disburse the SC Need-based Grant for up to three terms a year, within the maximum annual funding amount to eligible students.

HISTORY: Added by State Register Volume 21, Issue No. 6, Part 2, eff June 27, 1997. Amended by State Register Volume 22, Issue No. 6, Part 3, eff June 26, 1998; State Register Volume 26, Issue No. 2, eff February 22, 2002; State Register Volume 27, Issue No. 6, Part 2, eff June 27, 2003; State Register Volume 32, Issue No. 6, eff June 27, 2008; State Register Volume 33, Issue No. 6, eff June 26, 2009; State Register Volume 35, Issue No. 6, eff June 24, 2011; SCSR 46-5 Doc. No. 5054, eff May 27, 2022.