SCS/SB 287 - This act creates the Challenge Scholarship, a reimbursement for post-secondary education expenses claimed on Missouri state individual income tax returns by, or on behalf of, an eligible student who has completed credit hours in a public or private postsecondary education institution approved by the Coordinating Board for Higher Education.

To be eligible for a scholarship, a student must be enrolled in an eligible institution and must be in compliance with the eligibility requirements of the Missouri Student Financial Assistance Program, excluding the requirements of full-time enrollment and financial need, and must also meet additional requirements specified in the act.

The amount of the Challenge Scholarship shall be equal to the number of credit hours completed in that calendar year times the per credit hour allowance for that year, provided that such amount shall not exceed the maximum allowable scholarship for that year. The per credit hour allowance shall be seventeen dollars for calendar year 1998, thirty-three dollars for calendar year 1999 and fifty dollars for calendar year 2000 and thereafter.

The maximum allowable Challenge Scholarship shall be five hundred dollars for calendar year 1998, one thousand dollars for calendar year 1999 and fifteen hundred dollars for calendar year 2000 and thereafter. No student may claim, or have claimed on the student's behalf, more than three thousand dollars of cumulative Challenge Scholarship.

Students who participate in the A+ Schools program may use the Challenge Scholarship for the sixty credit hours following the exhaustion of financial benefits under the A+ schools program. No other student may claim Challenge Scholarship reimbursement for credit hours earned after earning sixty credit hours after high school graduation.

Every eligible institution shall furnish, to each eligible student enrolled at the institution, a written statement showing the credit hours completed by that student for the calendar year. Claims for the Challenge Scholarship shall be filed by December thirty-first of the succeeding year.

The Coordinating Board shall provide to the Director of Revenue a list of eligible institutions of postsecondary education. The Director of Revenue shall also provide annually to the Coordinating Board a report showing how many eligible students claimed a Challenge Scholarship, the dollar amount of such scholarships and other information requested by the Coordinating Board. The Coordinating Board, in conjunction with the Director of Revenue, shall prescribe such rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this act.

Challenge scholarship claims may only be filed for the calendar years beginning on or after January 1, 1998.

Fraudulent claims for Challenge Scholarships shall be subject to the same penalties and under the same conditions as are provided by sections 143.911 to 143.951, RSMo, relating to fraudulent claims for income taxes. Any repayment of a fraudulent Challenge Scholarship claim shall include full repayment plus interest. No Challenge Scholarship may be sold or assigned to a third party.

The act contains penalty provisions relating to fraudulent scholarship claims.

This act is identical to HCS/HB 538 from 1997.

OTTO FAJEN