§ 1869c — Low-income Scholarship Program

(1) The Director of the National Science Foundation (referred to in this section as the “Director”) shall award scholarships to low-income individuals to enable such individuals to pursue associate, undergraduate, or graduate level degrees in mathematics, engineering, computer science, or cybersecurity. (A) To be eligible to receive a scholarship under this section, an individual— (i) must be a citizen of the United States, a national of the United States (as defined in section 1101(a) of title 8), an alien admitted as a refugee under section 1157 of title 8, or an alien lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence; (ii) shall prepare and submit to the Director an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Director may require; and (iii) shall certify to the Director that the individual intends to use amounts received under the scholarship to enroll or continue enrollment at an institution of higher education (as defined in section 1001(a) of title 20) in order to pursue an associate, undergraduate, or graduate level degree in mathematics, engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, or other technology and science programs designated by the Director. (B) Awards of scholarships under this section shall be made by the Director solely on the basis of the ability of the applicant, except that in any case in which 2 or more applicants for scholarships are deemed by the Director to be possessed of substantially equal ability, and there are not sufficient scholarships available to grant one to each of such applicants, the available scholarship or scholarships shall be awarded to the applicants in a manner that will tend to result in a geographically wide distribution throughout the United States of recipients’ places of permanent residence. (3) The amount of a scholarship awarded under this section shall be determined by the Director. The Director may renew scholarships for up to 5 years. (4) The Director shall carry out this section only with funds made available under section 1356(s)(3) of title 8. The Director may use no more than 50 percent of such funds for undergraduate programs for curriculum development, professional and workforce development, and to advance technological education. Funds for these other programs may be used for purposes other than scholarships. (5) Not later than 60 days after December 8, 2004, the Director shall publish in the Federal Register a list of eligible programs of study.