Public Safety Officer or Employee’s Child Survivor Grant Program

PURPOSE: The public safety officer or employee’s child survivor grant program, established by section 173.260, RSMo, authorizes the Coordinating Board for Higher Education to provide educational benefits for eligible Missouri residents who are public safety officers who are permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty or eligible children or spouses of certain public safety officers and certain public employees killed or permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty to attend an approved Missouri college or university. This rule sets forth qualifications required of student applicants for grant assistance. (1) Definitions. (A) Academic year or the period of the grant is the period from July 1 of any year through June 30 of the following year. (B) Applicant shall mean an eligible child, spouse, or public safety officer, as defined in this rule, who has filed a complete and accurate application to receive a survivor grant as prescribed by the CBHE and who qualifies to receive such an award under section 173.260, RSMo. (C) CBHE is the Coordinating Board for Higher Education created by section 173.005, RSMo. (D) Eligible child is the natural, adopted, or stepchild of a public safety officer or employee who is less than twenty-four (24) years of age and who is a dependent of a public safety officer or employee or was a dependent at the time of death or permanent and total disability of a public safety officer or employee. (E) Employee shall be any full-time employee of the Department of Transportation engaged in the construction or maintenance of the state’s highways, roads, and bridges who is killed or permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty. (F) Full-time student means a student who is enrolled in at least twelve (12) semester hours, eight (8) quarter hours, or the equivalent in another measurement system, but not less than the number sufficient to secure the certificate or degree toward which the student is working in no more than the number of semesters or their equivalent normally required by the institution for the program in which the student is enrolled, provided, however, that an otherwise eligible student having a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. 12101-12213) who, because of the student’s disability, is unable to satisfy the statutory minimum requirements for full-time status under Title IV student aid programs shall be considered by the approved institution to be a full-time student and shall be considered to be making satisfactory academic degree progress, as defined in subsection (1)(M) of this rule, while carrying a minimum of six (6) credit hours or their equivalent at the approved institution. (G) Grant assistance or award shall be an amount of money paid to a qualified applicant pursuant to the provisions of this rule. (H) Institution of postsecondary education or approved institution shall be any private or public institution located in Missouri that meets the requirements set forth in subdivision 173.1102.1(2) or (3), RSMo. (I) Line of duty shall mean any action of an employee directly connected to their employment with the Department of Transportation, or of a public safety officer who is authorized or obligated by law, rule, regulation, or condition of employment or service to perform such function. (J) MDHE means the Missouri Department of Higher Education created by section 173.005, RSMo. (K) Permanent and total disability shall mean a disability which renders a person unable to engage in any gainful work. (L) Public safety officer shall be any firefighter, uniformed employee of the office of the state fire marshal, police officer, capitol police officer, parole officer, probation officer, state correctional employee, water safety officer, park ranger, conservation officer, or highway patrolman employed by the state of Missouri or a political subdivision thereof, including an individual serving in any such capacity as a certified volunteer, who is killed or permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty, or any emergency medical technician, air ambulance pilot, air ambulance registered professional nurse, air ambulance registered respiratory therapist, or flight crew member, as these terms are defined in subsection 173.260.1, RSMo, who is killed or permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty. (M) Satisfactory academic progress shall be determined by the approved institution’s policies as applied to other students at the approved institution receiving assistance under Title IV financial aid programs included in the Higher Education Act of 1965. (N) Similar program funds shall be need-based funds an applicant receives under any federal or state grant aid programs. (O) Spouse shall mean the husband, wife, widow, or widower of a public safety officer or employee at the time of death or permanent and total disability of such public safety officer or employee. (P) Survivor grant or grant shall mean the public safety officer or employee survivor grant as established by section 173.260, RSMo. (Q) Tuition or incidental fee shall be the amount charged for nondesignated and unrestricted fees by an institution of postsecondary education for an applicant to attend full-time at that institution as a resident of the state of Missouri. (2) Responsibilities of Institutions of Postsecondary Education. Institutions participating in the Public Safety Officer or Employee’s Child Survivor Grant program must meet the requirements set forth in 6 CSR 10-2.140, Institutional Eligibility for Student Participation. (3) Eligibility Policy. (A) To be eligible for grant assistance under the survivor grant program, an applicant must meet the following conditions: 1. Be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States; 2. Be a resident of Missouri; AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT 3. Be an eligible child or spouse of a public safety officer or an eligible child of an employee who was killed or permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty; or be a public safety officer who was permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty; 4. Be enrolled or accepted for enrollment as a full-time undergraduate student in a course of study leading to a certificate or an associate or baccalaureate degree at an approved institution for the period of the grant; 5. Maintain satisfactory academic progress in the applicant’s course of study, according to standards determined by the approved institution; and 6. Complete an application for grant assistance according to the provisions of this rule. (B) No award shall be made under section 173.260, RSMo to any applicant who is enrolled or who intends to use the award to enroll in a course of study leading to a degree in theology or divinity. (C) Grant assistance shall be allotted for one (1) academic year, but an applicant shall be eligible for renewed assistance until receipt of a baccalaureate degree or, only in the case of an applicant who is an eligible child, has reached age twenty-four (24) years, whichever occurs first, except that the applicant may receive such grant assistance through the completion of the semester or similar grading period in which the eligible child reaches twenty-four (24) years of age. (D) An eligible child of a public safety officer or employee, spouse of a public safety officer, or public safety officer shall cease to be eligible for a grant pursuant to section 173.260, RSMo, when the public safety officer or employee is no longer permanently and totally disabled. (4) Application and Evaluation Policy. (A) The CBHE annually shall prescribe the form of, and the time and method of filing, applications under the survivor grant program. (B) An application for grant assistance under the survivor grant program shall be made annually by the applicant on the form prescribed by the CBHE. (C) Completed applications must be received by the MDHE to be approved for grant awards. (5) Award Policy. (A) The maximum survivor grant program award amount for each applicant per academic year shall be the lesser of the actual tuition and incidental fees charged at the approved institution where the applicant is enrolled or accepted for full-time enrollment; or the amount of tuition and incidental fees charged a Missouri undergraduate resident enrolled fulltime (maximum twelve (12) credit hours) at the University of Missouri – Columbia. (B) The applicant’s survivor grant, when combined with similar program funds for which the applicant is eligible for and receives, shall not exceed the total cost of tuition and incidental fees charged by the approved institution for fulltime enrollment. (C) An applicant receiving an award under the survivor grant program shall have made satisfactory academic progress as defined by the approved institution in order to be eligible for a subsequent award under the survivor grant program. (D) An applicant who has been denied a survivor grant award for lack of satisfactory academic progress may not receive another survivor grant award until the enrollment period after the applicable standard has once again been met. (E) Award amounts will be calculated and issued for each semester of enrollment in a given academic year and will be disbursed to the approved institution. (F) Awards will not be made for periods of enrollment during the summer term(s). (G) An applicant may change the approved institution choice prior to the beginning of the first day of classes and may transfer between approved institutions during the academic year. A new application is required to transfer the award. Failure to notify the MDHE by these dates of the change may result in loss of the award. (H) Award notifications will be sent to applicants by the MDHE once applications have been approved and the awards have been determined. Notification of awards also will be sent to the student financial aid office at the approved institution in which the applicant plans to or has enrolled. (I) The applicant’s award will be sent to the approved institution to be delivered to the applicant’s account. The institution shall retain the portion of the award that the student owes for expenses and promptly give the applicant any remaining funds. (6) Information Sharing Policy. All information on an individual’s survivor grant application will be shared with the financial aid office of the institution to which the individual has applied or is attending to permit verification of data submitted. Information may be shared with federal financial aid offices if necessary to verify data furnished to the state or federal governments as provided for in the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a. AUTHORITY: section 173.260, RSMo Supp. 2018.* Original rule filed April 29, 1988, effective July 28, 1988. Amended: Filed May 27, 1999, effective Jan. 30, 2000. Amended: Filed Feb. 20, 2009, effective Aug. 30, 2009. Amended: Filed June 15, 2016, effective Nov. 30, 2016. Amended: Filed Jan. 29, 2019, effective July 30, 2019. *Original authority: 173.260, RSMo 1987, amended 1998, 2018.