Amendment #156 to H4100

Finish-Line Scholarship

Representatives Jones of North Reading, Peterson of Grafton, Hill of Ipswich, Poirier of North Attleborough, deMacedo of Plymouth, Adams of Andover, Barrows of Mansfield, Bastien of Gardner, Beaton of Shrewsbury, Boldyga of Southwick, D'Emilia of Bridgewater, Diehl of Whitman, Durant of Spencer, Fattman of Sutton, Ferguson of Holden, Frost of Auburn, Gifford of Wareham, Harrington of Groton, Howitt of Seekonk, Humason of Westfield, Hunt of Sandwich, Kuros of Uxbridge, Levy of Marlborough, Lombardo of Billerica, Lyons of Andover, O'Connell of Taunton, Orrall of Lakeville, Ross of Attleboro, Smola of Palmer, Vieira of Falmouth, Webster of Pembroke, Winslow of Norfolk and Wong of Saugus move to amend the bill by inserting, after section XX, the following section:—

“SECTION XX. Section 16 of chapter 15A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2010 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the fifth paragraph the following new paragraph:-

There shall be a Finish-Line Scholarship Program to provide scholarships to cover the entire cost of tuition and fees for the last year leading to an associate or bachelor’s degree at a Massachusetts public college or university to residents of the commonwealth in need of financial assistance.  The council shall establish guidelines governing the program which shall include, but not be limited to eligibility requirements and selection criteria, including requiring that the applicant show proof of eligibility to graduate by the end of the scholarship year and has, with exceptions granted for illness, military service or other valid reasons, been a student in good standing continuously since first enrolling in a public college or university; provided, further, that no funds from this scholarship program may be used to pay the tuition or fees for any course or program offered or administered by a non-public entity and that no student shall be eligible to receive a scholarship from this program more than one time.  If funds appropriated for this program are insufficient to cover its costs, the council shall develop a pilot program that will provide assistance to a subset of the eligible students.”.