The Florida Senate

445.0125  Repayment schedule.--

(1)  A recipient must repay an incentive grant from the Careers for Florida's Future Incentive Grant Program within 10 years after termination of the grant.

(a)  Repayment must begin:

1.  One year after completion of the program of studies, unless the recipient is employed in an eligible occupation; or

2.  One year after the student is no longer enrolled in an eligible institution.

(b)  Workforce Florida, Inc., shall determine whether a grant recipient is employed in an eligible occupation. For repayment purposes, an occupation determined to be eligible remains eligible for the duration of the repayment period.

(c)  The State Board of Education shall adopt repayment schedules by rule.

(2)  Credit for repayment of an incentive grant shall be as follows:

(a)  To repay an incentive grant for upper-division or lower-division courses that lead to a baccalaureate degree, a student must earn the baccalaureate degree and then maintain employment in an eligible occupation in this state for 1 year for each year in which the grant was received for full-time enrollment. If the student's actual enrollment was part-time, the grant repayment shall be calculated as the length of time required to complete the program based on full-time enrollment.

(b)  For an incentive grant for a program that generates credit toward an occupational completion point, a certificate, or a career education degree that does not articulate into a baccalaureate degree, a student must complete the program and maintain employment in an eligible occupation in this state for 6 months for every semester of full-time enrollment in the program. If the student's actual enrollment in the program was part-time, the grant repayment shall be calculated as the length of time required to complete the program based on full-time enrollment, based on 6 months for each semester.

(3)  Any incentive grant recipient who does not remain employed in an eligible occupation in this state must repay the loan plus accrued annual interest at the rate of the 3-month United States Treasury Bill, plus 2.3 percent.

(4)  An incentive grant recipient may receive repayment credit for eligible employment rendered at any time during the scheduled repayment period. However, this repayment credit is applicable only to the current principal and accrued interest balance that remains at the time the repayment credit is earned. An incentive grant recipient may not be reimbursed for previous cash payments of principal and interest.

History.--s. 160, ch. 2000-165.