(A)(1) A student who is pursuing a professional certificate, industry-recognized credential (IRC), diploma, or degree from a public South Carolina technical college, meeting the qualifying criteria, shall receive a South Carolina Workforce Industry Needs Scholarship (SCWINS). The SCWINS scholarship is equal to the cost of tuition, fees, or expenses for required course-related materials after applying all other federal or state scholarships or grants, not to exceed five thousand dollars each year for no more than three years of instruction, including the student’s freshman year, if the student is enrolled in an associate degree program, or no more than two years of instruction, including the student’s freshman year, if enrolled in an IRC, diploma, or professional certificate program.

(2) A qualifying student must:

(a) be a South Carolina resident;

(b) be enrolled in a career education program that meets the eligibility guidelines promulgated by the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education (SBTCE); and

(c) meet one of the following criteria:

(i) be employed;

(ii) take a financial literacy course offered at the public technical college; or

(iii) complete one hundred hours of voluntary time contributing to a nonprofit or public service organization approved by the SBTCE.

(B) The SBTCE shall promulgate regulations to define what constitutes a career-eligible education program to include the process for determining eligible programs with regional or statewide workforce needs. Additionally, the SBTCE shall communicate and provide to the colleges an annual approved list of eligible programs and identification of those programs with regional or statewide workforce needs before disbursement of funds and no later than March thirty-first. SBTCE also shall communicate with high school guidance counselors regarding the list of eligible programs in a timely manner.

(C) Credit-seeking recipients of SCWINS shall maintain their scholarship eligibility by showing substantial progress on their coursework and maintaining a grade point average of 2.0 or better on a 4.0 grading scale.

(D) A student may not be eligible to receive the SCWINS scholarship for more than one certificate, IRC, diploma, or degree within any five-year period following the student’s last scholarship disbursement unless the additional certificate, diploma, or degree constitutes progress in the same field of study.

(E) South Carolina public technical colleges shall allocate a minimum of five percent of their total SCWINS allocation towards dual-enrollment students eligible under this section.

(F) Priority for scholarship awards must be given to students seeking a degree, diploma, professional certificate, or industry-recognized credential (IRC) in an industry sector with regional or statewide workforce needs as identified yearly by SBTCE.

(G) If an eligible program is placed on suspension during the SBTCE’s annual program evaluation process, that program no longer qualifies for SCWINS funds at that specific college. Students must be advised on how to complete their program by transferring to another technical college or serving as a transient student at another technical college to complete specified courses.

(H) The SBTCE shall provide an annual report by April fifteenth, to the Chairman of House Ways and Means Committee and the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee detailing the use of funds received in the prior fiscal year. The report must include, at a minimum, a list of programs for each technical college that received funding, the amount spent on each program, the number of students that received scholarships, the average scholarship amount for each student, a list of credential categories completed by scholarship students, the average amount of money received by the scholarship student for each credential category, and job placement rates for scholarship students by credential category.

(I) The SBTCE and the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce shall collaborate to inform individuals who are receiving unemployment insurance about short-term training programs available at their local technical college through the SCWINS Program.