LOUISIANA STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE COMMISSION
OFFICE OF STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Student Financial Aid Bulletin
DATE ISSUED: December 8, 2003
EFFECTIVE DATE: As Indicated
DISTRIBUTION:

College, University, and LAICU Chancellors, Financial Aid Offices, Business Offices, Registrars and Auditors, Technical College Campus Deans and Student Personnel Services Officers, System Governance, Board of Regents, Department of Education, Louisiana Officials, Louisiana Legislators, and Commission Members, Parish Branch Libraries, Louisiana National Guard
TOPIC:

Emergency Rules for the Grant Opportunity for Youth ChalleNGe Skills Training Program

To assure that your Rules remain current, please record this document on your Bulletin index and retain it with your manual.

Act 826 of the 2003 Session of the Louisiana Legislature created The Grant Opportunity for Youth ChalleNGe Skills Training Program (GO Youth Challenge Program) and is effective beginning academic year 2003-2004. This grant will provide tuition payment for skill and occupational training at a postsecondary institution for students who graduate from the Louisiana National Guard’s Youth ChalleNGe Program and earn a Louisiana High School Equivalency Diploma (GED). The Louisiana Student Financial Assistance Commission approved emergency rules that will be applied to the administration of this program at its meeting held on Oct. 24, 2003. This award cannot be used for academic programs. It is available for technical programs taught at Louisiana public 2-year community colleges, institutions belonging to the Louisiana Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (LAICU) and all campuses of the Louisiana Technical College.

As the administering agency, LOSFA is developing processes to notify students of their eligibility for the GO Youth Challenge Program. For the current academic year, LOSFA is contacting the schools these students are reported to be attending, to arrange for payment of their tuition. A sample Payment Request Form is enclosed. LOSFA will submit the names and social security numbers of eligible students on the Payment Request Form to the reported school this year. The financial aid officer will enter the requested information regarding the student’s enrollment status, and return the Payment Request Form to LOSFA for processing.

Procedures for next academic year (2004-2005) are as follows: Once the student’s eligibility for the GO Youth Challenge Program is determined, a certificate will be issued to the student. They are to present the certificate to the financial aid officer at the eligible institution. The financial aid officer will determine if the student is enrolled in an eligible program, and is eligible for payment. The GO Youth Challenge Program payment request can then be entered into a GO Youth Challenge Program database that will be located on the LOSFA Web site. Complete details and training will be available in the spring.

Please contact Bonnie Lavergne at blavergne@osfa.state.la.us with any questions on procedures for processing payments or determining eligibility for these students.