South Carolina National Guard College Assistance Program

The South Carolina National Guard College Assistance Program is a grant, not a loan and not a reimbursement, and the money goes to the institution rather than to the member. Section 59-114-30 sets the entitlement and three limits: "Qualifying members of the National Guard may receive college assistance program grants up to an amount equal to one hundred percent of college tuition and fees, provided, however, the total of all grants received may not exceed eighteen thousand dollars. A member may not qualify for college assistance program grants for more than one hundred thirty semester hours or related quarter hours. Grants are not to be awarded for graduate degree courses." "Tuition and fees" is defined in Section 59-114-20(6) as "the amount charged for registering for credit hours of instruction, costs of textbooks, and other fees and charges associated with attendance at an eligible institution as approved by the commission". Textbooks are inside the definition, which is rare and worth using. Now the figure problem, which is the whole story of this entry. The statute says eighteen thousand dollars. The Commission on Higher Education publishes, for the 2026-27 academic year, up to twelve thousand dollars per academic year, up to four thousand dollars per semester for a full-time student, and a twenty-five thousand dollar lifetime maximum. The commission also states the mechanism: the cumulative total of all benefits "is set annually through proviso by the South Carolina General Assembly." That is the resolution, and it is the thing to plan around. The operative cap lives in a proviso in the annual appropriations act, not in the Code of Laws, and a proviso expires with the fiscal year that carries it. For 2026-27 it is proviso 117.137 in Part IB of the appropriations act the General Assembly ratified on August 11, 2026 (Act No. 259, H. 5126), which the Governor did not veto: "For the current fiscal year, a member of the SC National Guard may qualify for college assistance program grants for more than one hundred thirty semester hours or related quarter hours", grants may reach one hundred percent of tuition and fees "not to exceed twelve thousand dollars for the academic year", and "the lifetime maximum amount received shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars". So for this year the proviso does not only raise the money; it also switches off the statute's 130-hour limit, which neither the Commission on Higher Education's page nor the Department of Veterans' Affairs page mentions. The graduate-course exclusion is not addressed and stands. The twenty-five thousand dollar lifetime maximum and the lifted hour cap are good for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027. If a future appropriations act omits the proviso, Section 59-114-30 reasserts itself at eighteen thousand dollars and 130 hours. A member planning a four-year degree around twenty-five thousand dollars of state support is planning around a figure the General Assembly re-decides every June. The Department of Veterans' Affairs education page still describes the cap as the figure "for FY 2025-26". Section 59-114-30 also carries a second, quieter discretion: "The annual maximum grant must be determined for each academic year based on the amount of available program funds." The annual figure is not a statutory entitlement either. Eligibility, in Section 59-114-40. The member must be in good standing with the active National Guard at the beginning of each academic year and remain in good standing throughout the entire academic year for which benefits are payable; must have valid tuition and fee expenses from an eligible institution; must maintain the cumulative grade point average the institution requires to remain a student; and must satisfy any additional requirements the commission promulgates. Subsection (B) sets the entry point and the payback. Individuals joining the Guard become eligible "upon completion of basic training and Advanced Individual Training (AIT)", which 2014 Act No. 151 changed from the day of enlistment. Enlisted personnel must continue serving during the term of the courses covered. Officers carry a much heavier obligation: they "shall continue their service with the National Guard for at least four years after completion of the most recent grant awarded or degree completion". An officer taking a single semester's grant incurs four more years. Subsection (C) excludes a member receiving a full ROTC scholarship. Eligible institutions, from Section 59-114-20(4), include the public institutions and the independent institutions of higher learning, plus a narrowly drawn category of bachelor's level institutions chartered before 1962 or incorporated in 1962 and licensed in 1997. Institutions whose sole purpose is religious or theological training, or the granting of professional degrees, are excluded. Section 59-114-65 does two useful things. It makes the grants subject to the availability of appropriated funds, and it exempts the appropriation from a midyear budget reduction imposed by the General Assembly or the Executive Budget Office. So the programme is discretionary at the front end and protected once funded. Up to five percent of the appropriation may go to administration. Section 59-114-75 puts the recovery risk on the institution: if a student who received a grant withdraws, is suspended or otherwise becomes ineligible, the institution must reimburse the programme under its own refund policy and then collect from the student itself. The older National Guard loan repayment programme in Section 59-111-75 is gone. Subsection (B) had barred new participants beginning with the 2007-2008 academic year and moved its remaining funds into this programme, and 2026 Act No. 188 (H. 4738), signed May 18, 2026, repealed the section outright. The published code still prints it.