SLS 22RS-2547 ORIGINAL
2022 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 49
BY SENATOR FIELDS
LEGISLATION. Expresses legislative intent regarding Act 457 of the 2021 Regular
Legislative Session establishing the M.J. Foster Promise Program.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To express the legislative intent with regard to the use of the term financial aid to exclude
3 student loans and federal work study programs.
4 WHEREAS, the legislature passed Senate Bill 148 in the 2021 Regular Legislative
5 Session, which was signed into law by Governor Edwards as Act 457 of the 2021 Regular
6 Legislative Session to establish the M.J. Foster Promise Program; and
7 WHEREAS, the M.J. Foster Promise Program was established to reduce the financial
8 barriers for students to earn both short-term industry-based credentials and associate degrees
9 in high-demand, high-wage jobs; and
10 WHEREAS, the M.J. Foster Promise Program was also established with a capped
11 total investment of ten million five hundred thousand dollars annually; and
12 WHEREAS, the M.J. Foster Promise Program requires students to first utilize
13 federal, state, and institutional financial aid prior to utilizing the program award to ensure
14 the funding of the program assists a maximum number of students; and
15 WHEREAS, the term "financial aid" is sometimes broadly defined to include monies
16 from federal student loans and the federal work study program; and
17 WHEREAS, the purpose of the M.J. Foster Promise Program was to remove financial
18 barriers to education and it was never the intent that students should be required to incur debt
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SLS 22RS-2547 ORIGINAL
1 through student loans or have their awards reduced by the amounts earned through their
2 labor funded by federal work study dollars; and
3 WHEREAS, R.S. 24:177 provides that the Louisiana Legislature may express the
4 intended meaning of a law in a duly adopted concurrent resolution.
5 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Louisiana Legislature does hereby
6 express its intent that the term "financial aid", as used in R.S. 17:3047, et seq., shall not be
7 interpreted to include monies from student loans or federal work study programs.
8 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
9 commissioner of higher education, the chairman of the Louisiana Board of Regents, the
10 president of the Louisiana State University System, the president of the Southern University
11 System, and the president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Cheryl Serrett.
DIGEST
SCR 49 Original 2022 Regular Session Fields
Expresses legislative intent regarding Act 457 of the 2021 Regular Legislative Session
establishing the M.J. Foster Promise Program.
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