Session of 2023
HOUSE BILL No. 2132
By Committee on Appropriations
1-23
AN ACT concerning postsecondary education; relating to the Kansas
promise scholarship act; expanding the eligible fields of study;
establishing a maximum scholarship amount for certain private
postsecondary institutions; amending K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,272,
74-32,273 and 74-32,274 and repealing the existing sections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,272 is hereby amended to read as
follows: 74-32,272. (a) There is hereby established the Kansas promise
scholarship program. The state board of regents shall implement and
administer the program.
(b) On or before March 1, 2023, the state board of regents shall adopt
rules and regulations to implement and administer the Kansas promise
scholarship program. Such rules and regulations shall establish:
(1) A scholarship application process, including, but not limited to,
accepting scholarship applications throughout the academic year and
processing such applications in the order such applications were received;
(2) appeal procedures for denial or revocation of a Kansas promise
scholarship;
(3) guidelines to ensure as much as is practicable that, if a student
who received a Kansas promise scholarship graduates from a promise
eligible program and subsequently enrolls in a state educational institution,
as defined in K.S.A. 76-711, and amendments thereto, or municipal
university, any courses taken by such student shall be transferred to the
state educational institution or municipal university and qualify toward the
student's baccalaureate degree;
(4) the terms, conditions and requirements that shall be incorporated
into each Kansas promise scholarship agreement, which shall not be more
stringent than the requirements for Kansas promise scholarship agreements
provided in this act;
(5) procedures for requesting and approving medical, military and
personal absences from an eligible postsecondary educational institution
while receiving a Kansas promise scholarship;
(6) criteria for determining whether a student who received a Kansas
promise scholarship fulfilled the residency, employment and repayment
requirements included in a Kansas promise scholarship agreement as
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provided in K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,276, and amendments thereto;
(7) criteria for determining when a student who received a Kansas
promise scholarship may be released from the requirements of a Kansas
promise scholarship, if there are special circumstances that caused such
student to be unable to complete such requirements; and
(8) that no eligible postsecondary educational institution may:
(A) Limit scholarship awards to certain promise eligible programs at
such institution; or
(B) award less than the full Kansas promise scholarship amount for
which a student qualifies as long as funds are available in the Kansas
promise scholarship program fund.
(c) The state board of regents shall:
(1) Identify the promise eligible programs offered by each eligible
postsecondary educational institution that are:
(A) Within a field of study designated by the eligible postsecondary
educational institution pursuant to K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,273, and
amendments thereto; and
(B) in any of the following fields of study:
(i) Information technology and security;
(ii) mental and physical healthcare;
(iii) advanced manufacturing and building trades; or
(iv) early childhood education and development, elementary
education and secondary education;
(2) work with community partners, such as community foundations,
school districts, postsecondary educational institutions, Kansas business
and industry and Kansas economic development organizations to publicize
Kansas promise scholarships, including, but not limited to, publicizing
eligible postsecondary educational institutions, approved scholarship-
eligible educational programs, application procedures and application
deadlines;
(3) disburse funds to each eligible postsecondary educational
institution for the purpose of awarding Kansas promise scholarships;
(4) request information from eligible postsecondary educational
institutions and any state agency necessary for the administration of this
act;
(5) accept electronic signatures as sufficient and valid on all forms
and agreements required by the Kansas promise scholarship program and
any rules and regulations adopted thereunder;
(6) enforce Kansas promise scholarship agreements;
(7) collect any moneys repaid by students pursuant to K.S.A. 2022
Supp. 74-32,276, and amendments thereto;
(8) determine whether students who received a Kansas promise
scholarship fulfill the residency, employment and repayment requirements
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provided in K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,276, and amendments thereto; and
(9) beginning in January 2022, annually evaluate the Kansas promise
scholarship program and prepare and submit a report to the senate standing
committee on education and the house of representatives standing
committee on education. Such report shall include, but not be limited to,
the total program cost for each promise eligible program at each eligible
postsecondary educational institution, the amount of scholarship moneys
awarded that went to each promise eligible program, the number of credit
hours paid for with scholarship moneys, the amount of scholarship moneys
expected to be awarded to each institution for each semester, the number
of scholarships awarded, the total amount of scholarship moneys awarded,
the amount of scholarship moneys provided for tuition, fees, books and
supplies, measures postsecondary educational institutions have taken in
working with private business and industry in the state to determine
appropriate fields of study and a review of the employment of scholarship
recipients who have completed the Kansas promise scholarship program,
including, but not limited to, employment fields and geographic location
of such employment.
(d) (1) The state board of regents may designate an associate degree
transfer program as an eligible program only if such program is included
in:
(A) An established 2+2 agreement with a Kansas four-year
postsecondary educational institution; or
(B) an articulation agreement with a Kansas four-year postsecondary
educational institution and is part of an established degree pathway that
allows a student to transfer at least 60 credit hours from the eligible
postsecondary educational institution to a four-year postsecondary
educational institution for the completion of an additional 60 credit hours
toward a bachelor's degree.
(2) The provisions of this subsection shall be construed and applied
retroactively to the enactment of the Kansas promise scholarship program
on July 1, 2021.
(e) (1) The state board of regents may remove a promise eligible
program from the list of approved promise eligible programs only in
accordance with this subsection. If the state board of regents proposes to
remove a promise eligible program from such list, the state board of
regents shall notify all eligible postsecondary educational institutions of
the proposal to remove such program by May 1 of the calendar year that
precedes the calendar year in which such program would officially be
removed from such list. Within 30 calendar days of receipt, each eligible
postsecondary educational institution may appeal such proposed removal
to the state board of regents. Following such appeal period, within 45
calendar days, the state board of regents shall consider any such appeal
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and issue a final decision upon whether the program shall be removed. If
the state board of regents issues a final decision to remove such program,
the program shall be removed from the list of approved promise eligible
programs only after not less than 14 months have elapsed from the date
that the state board of regents issued the final decision to remove such
program.
(2) The provisions of this subsection shall apply to any program that
has been approved by the state board of regents as a promise eligible
program on or after July 1, 2021.
Sec. 2. K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,273 is hereby amended to read as
follows: 74-32,273. (a) In addition to the fields of study provided in
K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,272, and amendments thereto, an eligible
postsecondary educational institution may designate an additional field of
study for awarding a Kansas promise scholarship to meet local
employment needs if:
(1) Promise eligible programs within such field of study are two-year
associate degree programs or career and technical education certificates or
stand-alone programs approved by the state board of regents that
correspond to jobs that are high wage, high demand or critical need in the
community;
(2) the institution already offers such field of study; and
(3) such field of study is one of the following:
(A) Agriculture;
(B) food and natural resources;
(C) education and training;
(D) law, public safety, corrections and security; or
(E) transportation, distribution and logistics.
(b) An eligible postsecondary educational institution that designates
an additional promise eligible field of study pursuant to this section shall
maintain the promise eligible field of study designation for at least three
consecutive years. After maintaining such field of study for at least three
years, the institution may designate a new promise eligible field of study
that corresponds to a high wage, high demand or critical need occupation
to replace the existing designated promise eligible field of study. Any
newly designated field of study shall be subject to the requirements of this
section.
(c) Programs designated by eligible institutions prior to the effective
date of this act shall be maintained until all students currently enrolled in
such programs have exhausted their promise scholarship eligibility.
Sec. 3. K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,274 is hereby amended to read as
follows: 74-32,274. (a) (1) Subject to appropriations, the amount of a
Kansas promise scholarship for a student for each academic year shall be
determined as follows:
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(1) For a student enrolled in a promise eligible program offered by
an eligible public postsecondary educational institution described in
K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,271(b)(1)(A) or (B), and amendments thereto, the
scholarship amount shall be the aggregate amount of tuition, required fees
and the cost of books and required materials for the promise eligible
program at the eligible postsecondary educational institution for the
academic year in which the student is enrolled and receiving the
scholarship minus the aggregate amount of all other aid awarded to such
student for such academic year.
(2) If For a student is enrolled in a promise eligible program offered
by an eligible private postsecondary educational institution described in
K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,271(b)(1)(C), and amendments thereto, the
scholarship amount shall be the aggregate amount of tuition, mandatory
fees and the cost of books and materials for such program shall be minus
the aggregate amount of all other aid awarded to such student for such
academic year, except that a scholarship awarded pursuant to this
paragraph shall not exceed the average cost of tuition, mandatory fees and
the cost of books and materials for such promise eligible program when
offered by an eligible public postsecondary educational institution
described in K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,271(b)(1)(A) or (B), and
amendments thereto.
(b) Kansas promise scholarships shall only be awarded to an eligible
student whose family household income equals $100,000 or less for a
family of one or two, $150,000 or less for a family of three and, for
household sizes above three, a household income that is equal to or less
than the family of three amount plus $4,800 for each additional family
member.
(c) (1) Kansas promise scholarship awards shall be used only to pay
for up to a total of 68 promise scholarship funded credit hours or a total of
$20,000 in Kansas promise scholarship awards, whichever occurs first,
over the lifetime of the student who received the Kansas promise
scholarship award regardless of the eligible postsecondary educational
institution such student attended.
(2) Kansas promise scholarship awards shall not be used to fund:
(A) Prerequisite classes required for a promise eligible program
unless such classes are a designated course within the eligible program; or
(B) any remedial course, as defined in K.S.A. 76-7,151, and
amendments thereto, unless such course is offered in a corequisite format.
(d) For each fiscal year, the appropriation made for the Kansas
promise scholarship program shall not exceed $10,000,000.
(e) The state board of regents shall disburse funds based on
reimbursement requests from eligible postsecondary educational
institutions. Reimbursement requests shall be based on the actual amount
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of Kansas promise scholarship amounts awarded by an eligible
postsecondary educational institution for the appropriate academic period.
Any eligible postsecondary educational institution seeking reimbursement
shall submit a reimbursement request to the state board of regents on or
before September 1, December 1, March 1 and June 1 of each year. The
state board of regents shall disburse the appropriate amount of funds to
eligible postsecondary educational institutions on September 15,
December 15, March 15 and June 15 each year.
(f) As used in this section, "aid" includes any grant, scholarship or
financial assistance awards that do not require repayment. "Aid" does not
include any military financial educational benefits or any family
postsecondary savings account or other qualified tuition program
established pursuant to section 529 of the internal revenue code of 1986, as
amended.
Sec. 4. K.S.A. 2022 Supp. 74-32,272, 74-32,273 and 74-32,274 are
hereby repealed.
Sec. 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the Kansas register.
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