Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters Scholarship (LAW) Rules and

Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters Scholarship (LAW) Rules and Regulations. These Rules and Regulations are subject to change by the Mississippi Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance Board (Postsecondary Board). The Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters Scholarship Program offers financial assistance to dependent children and spouses of any Mississippi law enforcement officer, full-time firefighter or volunteer firefighter who has suffered fatal injuries or wounds or become permanently and totally disabled as a result of injuries or wounds which occurred in the performance of the official and appointed duties of his or her office. I. GENERAL ELIGIBILITY: A. The applicant must enroll full-time (minimum 12 semester hours or 9 trimester hours) at the undergraduate level at one (1) state-supported college or university within the state of Mississippi. B. The applicant must be certified as a dependent child or spouse of any Mississippi law enforcement officer, full-time firefighter or volunteer firefighter who suffered fatal injuries or wounds which occurred in the performance of the official and appointed duties of his or her office or who became permanently and totally disabled as a result of injuries or wounds which occurred in the performance of the official and appointed duties of his or her office. 1. “Child” or “children” means natural children, adopted children or stepchildren. a) For proof of dependency, additional documentation may be required for adopted or stepchildren. b) A child must not have reached the age of twenty-three (23) years on the first day of the first term for which the LAW scholarship is awarded. 2. A “spouse” as it applies to this scholarship is a person who was legally married to a Mississippi law enforcement officer, full-time firefighter or volunteer firefighter at the time of the death, or, in the case of the law enforcement officer or firefighter who was permanently and totally disabled, has not remarried. 3. “Mississippi law enforcement officer” is defined as follows: a) “State highway patrolmen” including all law enforcement officers, regardless of department or bureau, of the Mississippi Highway Safety patrol. b) “Municipal police officers” including all law enforcement officers of any municipality who are regular duty personnel on full-time status, but not including auxiliary officers or those serving on a temporary or part-time status. c) “Sheriffs” and “deputy sheriffs” including all law enforcement officers of full-time duty status on a regular basis serving the sheriff’s department of any county at the time of death or injury, but not including deputy sheriffs who are engaged in administrative or civil duty, or deputy sheriffs serving in a temporary capacity or part-time basis. d) “Constables” including all duly elected constables of any beat of any county within the state who were permanently or fatally injured while actually engaged in the performance of their duties concerning the criminal laws of the county and state. e) “Conservation officers” including all duly appointed game wardens employed by the State of Mississippi on a full-time status who were permanently or fatally injured while actually engaged in the performance of their duties concerning the game laws of the state. f) “Alcoholic Beverage Control Division agents and inspectors” including all duly appointed agents and investigators of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the Mississippi State Tax Commission on a full-time duty status who were permanently or fatally injured while actually engaged in the performance of their duties concerning the alcoholic beverage control laws of the state. g) Members of the National Guard serving as peace officers when ordered to state emergency duty under authority vested in the Governor by the Constitution and laws of the state and who during that service were fatally or permanently injured. h) “Tax commission scales enforcement officers” including all duly appointed scales enforcement officers of the Mississippi State Tax Commission on a full-time duty status who were permanently or fatally injured while actually engaged in the performance of their duties. i) Duly appointed agents of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. j) Correctional, Probation and Parole officers employed by the Mississippi Department of Corrections. 4. Full-time firefighter is defined as any firefighter employed by any subdivision of the State of Mississippi on full-time duty status that was permanently and totally disabled or fatally injured while actually engaged in the performance of their duties. 5. Volunteer firefighter is defined as any volunteer firefighter registered with the State of Mississippi or a political subdivision thereof on a volunteer firefighting status that was permanently and totally disabled or fatally injured while actually engaged in the performance of firefighting duties. II. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS: A. First-time applicants must: 1. Complete an application online at www.msfinancialaid.org. 2. To demonstrate eligibility as a child, submit a certificate of live birth. 3. To demonstrate eligibility as a spouse, submit a copy of the marriage license. 4. To demonstrate that the applicant is the child or spouse of an eligible law- enforcement officer or firefighter who was permanently and totally disabled as a result of injuries or wounds which occurred in the performance of the official and appointed duties of his or her office, submit the following four documents: a) A letter from the officer's or firefighter's former supervisor or employer stating whether the officer or firefighter is disabled as a result of injuries or wounds that occurred in the performance of the official duties of his office; b) A statement from the officer's or firefighter's physician stating whether the officer or firefighter is disabled and the reason for that disability; c) Verification from the Public Employees' Retirement System; and d) Verification from the Social Security Administration. 5. To demonstrate that the applicant is the child or spouse of an eligible law- enforcement officer or firefighter who suffered fatal injuries or wounds in the performance of the official and appointed duties of his or her office, submit the following two documents: a) A letter from the officer's or firefighter's former supervisor or employer stating whether he suffered fatal injuries in the performance of the official duties of his office; and b) A death certificate. 6. Enroll full-time (minimum 12 semester hours or 9 trimester hours) at the undergraduate level at one (1) eligible state-supported institution in the State of Mississippi. Evidence of enrollment will be automatically provided to the Postsecondary Board by the attending institution. B. Renewal applicants must: 1. Complete an application online at www.msfinancialaid.org. 2. Maintain satisfactory academic progress toward a degree with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, as certified by the registrar, based on that institution’s calculation, at the end of each semester, trimester, or term of the regular academic year. 3. Maintain full-time enrollment (minimum 12 semester hours or 9 trimester hours) at the undergraduate level at one (1) eligible state-supported institution in the State of Mississippi. Evidence of enrollment will be automatically provided to the Postsecondary Board by the attending institution. III. LENGTH AND AMOUNT OF AWARD: A. No student may receive LAW for longer than the equivalent semesters or trimesters required to complete one (1) certificate, and/or one (1) associate, and/or (1) bachelor degree, not to exceed eight (8) semesters or twelve (12) trimesters. B. The award shall cover the cost of tuition, including required fees, and the lesser of the actual cost of campus housing and the average cost of standard, double- occupancy campus housing for eight (8) semesters at any state-supported college or university within the state of Mississippi. C. A “required fee” is any fee charged to every full-time, undergraduate student, regardless of classification or major. D. The award for students not living on campus should include an amount equal to the average cost of standard campus housing for double-occupancy rooms. If a student moves out of campus housing mid-year, the housing allowance for the remainder of the academic year will equal the allowance for the term during which the student lived in campus housing. E. The average cost of campus housing for students at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, which does not provide campus housing, should equal the housing allowance used in the calculation of the institution’s Cost of Attendance for full-time, undergraduate, dependent students. F. This scholarship does not include funds for books, food, school supplies, materials, dues or fees for extracurricular activities. G. Undergraduate grant awards will be offered to individual applicants through the single undergraduate grant program that offers the applicant the largest award.