A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to provide scholarships for wounded warriors to attend a university or community college motorsports program.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the State Education Assistance Authority the sum of twenty thousand six hundred fifteen dollars ($20,615) for the 2015‑2016 fiscal year and the sum of forty‑one thousand eight hundred fifty‑four dollars ($41,854) for the 2016‑2017 fiscal year to provide three scholarships for members of the Wounded Warrior Program to complete a motorsports technology, motorsports management, race car technology, or similar program or concentration at a community college in this State or a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina during the 2015‑2016 fiscal year and an additional three scholarships during the 2016‑2017 fiscal year. Of these funds, the State Education Assistance Authority may use up to three and one‑half percent (3.5%) to administer the scholarships; the remainder shall be used for the scholarships. The State Education Assistance Authority shall select the three recipients of the scholarships, and it is the intent of the General Assembly that the recipients be North Carolinians with long term, enduring connections to the State. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a North Carolinian who satisfies the requirements of subsection (b) of this section who is stationed out of the State or country at the time of application from being a recipient of one of the scholarships created pursuant to this act.
SECTION 1.(b)  In order to be eligible to receive a scholarship under this act, a student must meet all of the following requirements:
(1)	The student must be seeking to complete a program or concentration in motorsports technology, motorsports management, race car technology, or a similar program or concentration.
(2)	The student must qualify as a legal resident of North Carolina and as a resident for tuition purposes in accordance with definitions of residency that may from time to time be adopted by the Board of Governors and be published in the residency manual of the Board of Governors.
(3)	The student must meet enrollment standards by being admitted, enrolled, and classified as an undergraduate student in a matriculated status at a community college in this State or a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina.
(4)	In order to continue to be eligible for a scholarship for successive academic years, the student must meet achievement standards by maintaining satisfactory academic progress towards completion of the program or concentration for which the scholarship was awarded.
(5)	The student must be a member of the Army Warrior Care and Transition Program, the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment, the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program, a similar program of the Navy or Coast Guard, or have been a member of one of those programs at some point during the 24 months immediately preceding application for the scholarship.
SECTION 2.  Of the funds appropriated from the Education Lottery Fund to the State Education Assistance Authority Fund for college and university scholarships, the sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) for the 2015‑2016 fiscal year and the sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) for the 2016‑2017 fiscal year shall be used to market the availability of the scholarships provided for under this act to members of the programs described in subdivision 1(b)(5) of this act associated with Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune, other armed forces facilities in this State, and anywhere that North Carolinians meeting the requirements of subsection 1(b) of this act are likely to reside.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2015.