Posted: | December 12, 2016 10:57 AM |
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From: | Senator Lisa M. Boscola |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Education Gratuity Program |
In the near future, I plan to reintroduce my legislation that will update the Educational Gratuity Program, which is available to children of deceased or disabled veterans attending an approved educational institution. Under current law, a child of a deceased or disabled veteran in eligible to receive an Educational Gratuity payment in an amount not to exceed $500 per term or semester for costs incurred or contracted covering matriculation fees and other necessary fees, tuition, board, room rent, books and supplies. The payment is made to the educational institution upon receipt of documentation that the expenses were incurred. The payment is available for a maximum of four (4) scholastic years. To qualify, the student must be between ages 16 and 23 and a resident of the Commonwealth for a period of five years before applying for a qualified child in a definite amount for the school year. My proposal would increase the maximum educational gratuity from $500 to $1,000 and extend the number of scholastic years for which it is available to the student from 4 to 5. In addition, the maximum age through which the child would be able to receive the payment would be increased from 23 to 25, while the residency requirement prior to application would be reduced from 5 years to 1 year. The sum of $500,000 would be appropriated to cover costs associated with these changes. I invite you to join me as a co-sponsor of this effort. This is a reintroduction of SB 345 from the previous legislative session. Co-sponsors included: Costa, Hughes, Williams, Fontana, Yudichak, Brewster, Smith, Hutchinson, Rafferty, Blake and Browne. |
Introduced as SB105