(a)  Each year the department shall identify and recommend from among youth in its legal custody, or who were in the Department’s legal custody on their eighteenth (18th) birthday, those students who may be eligible to apply for a Higher Education Opportunity Incentive Grant. The department of elementary and secondary education shall afford all appropriate assistance to the department in the identification of youth who may be eligible for such grants. Each selected applicant will receive grants to supplement federal, state and institutional scholarships, grants and loans awarded to the applicant in an amount not to exceed the full cost of tuition, fees and room and board charges:

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(b)  A grant period shall be limited to two (2) years of full-time study at the Community College of Rhode Island, four (4) years of full-time study at Rhode Island College, and the University of Rhode Island, and in no instance shall the grant period exceed a period of four (4) years. Grant recipients shall be enrolled full-time and shall continue to make satisfactory progress toward an academic certificate or degree as determined by the school in which they are enrolled;

(c)  The department shall make recommendations for grant awards from among those youth who:

(1)  Have not yet reached the age of eighteen (18) on the day of recommendation, are in the legal custody of the department on the day of recommendation and have remained in such custody for at least twenty-four (24) months prior to the day of recommendation; or, for former foster care, have reached the age of eighteen (18) prior to the date of recommendation, have not yet reached the age of twenty-one (21) and were in the custody of the department from their sixteenth (16th) to their eighteenth (18th) birthdays; and

(2)  Have graduated from high school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma not more than one year prior to the date of recommendation; and

(3)  Has not reached his/her twenty-first (21st) birthday; except that youth who are participating in this program on the date before his/her twenty-first (21st) birthday may remain eligible until his/her twenty-third (23rd) birthday, as long as he/she continues to be considered a full-time student by Community College of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College or University of Rhode Island, and is making satisfactory progress, as determined by the school in which he/she is enrolled, toward completion of his/her degree program.