§ 6-82-1504 - Service requirement for scholarship recipients.
6-82-1504. Service requirement for scholarship recipients.
(a) Except in those cases where employment positions may not be available upon completion of licensure requirements, at the beginning of the first school year in which a recipient of a Critical Needs Minority Teacher Scholarship is eligible for employment as a licensed teacher, that person shall begin to render service as a licensed teacher in a public school district in a geographical area of the state where there is a critical shortage of teachers or in the Delta, as designated by the Department of Education.
(b) (1) Any person who received four (4) annual awards, or the equivalent of four (4) annual awards, shall render two (2) years' service as a licensed teacher.
(2) Any person who received fewer than four (4) annual awards, or the equivalent of four (4) annual awards, shall render one (1) school semester of service as a licensed teacher for each year that the person received a full-time student scholarship or for the number of academic hours equivalent to one (1) school year, as determined by the university, for which a part-time student received a scholarship.
(c) Students receiving a scholarship shall execute a note made payable to the university for an amount equal to the scholarship award each semester that shall bear interest at a rate to be determined by the Department of Higher Education beginning September 1 after completion of the program or immediately after termination of the scholarship loan, whichever is earlier.
(d) (1) Any person failing to complete a program of study which will enable the person to become a licensed teacher shall begin repaying the note according to the note's terms for the sum of all scholarship awards made to that person less the corresponding amount of any awards for which service has been rendered.
(2) Any person failing to complete his or her teaching obligation, as required under subsection (b) of this section, shall begin repaying the note according to the note's terms for the sum of all scholarship awards made to that person less the corresponding amount of any awards for which service has been rendered, except in the case of a deferral of debt for cause approved by the State Board of Education if there is no employment position immediately available upon a teacher's completion of licensure requirements.
(3) After the period of the deferral, the person shall begin or resume teaching duties as required under this section or shall become liable on the note under this section.
(4) If a claim for payment under subsection (c) is placed in the hands of an attorney for collection, the obligor shall be liable for an additional amount equal to a reasonable attorney's fee.
(e) The obligations made by the recipient of a scholarship award shall not be voidable by reason of the age of the student at the time of receiving the scholarship.