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Effective July 1, 2006, the Opportunity Scholarship program will extend scholarship eligibility to certain South Dakota students who attend college or technical school out of state and then return to South Dakota to attend school. Such students may be eligible for a partial scholarship award.

This change applies only to students who first attend full time a regionally accredited institution out of state and then return to South Dakota to attend school within two years after their high school graduation date (or two years following release from active military service). Such students must meet initial eligibility requirements for the Opportunity Scholarship, as well as continuing eligibility provisions (GPA and credit-hour load requirements) while they were enrolled out of state.

Continuing eligibility requires the scholarship recipient to be:

* Continuously enrolled;
* Complete a minimum of 15 credit hours of instruction per term in new courses (no repeats);
* Maintain a cumulative 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale (first calculated after the 2nd semester of postsecondary study and for every semester thereafter).

If a student returns to South Dakota and applies for the Opportunity Scholarship, a partial award is made. Students forfeit any scholarship amount for the time spent out of state. In their fourth and final year of eligibility, the scholarship payment is also reduced by one-half (a $1,000 award will be made, instead of $2,000).