Continuing Eligibility

        After a South Dakota high school graduates becomes an Opportunity Scholarship recipient, he/she must meet a number of continuing eligibility requirements each semester.  Recipients must maintain a cumulative 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale; attempt and complete 15 credit hours of instruction per semester, and sit for and pass all sections of the college proficiency examination.  Any recipient who loses eligibility because the student's cumulative grade point average falls below 3.0 may reestablish eligibility by raising the cumulative grade point average to 3.0 or greater.  Recipients failing to attempt or complete 15 credits in a given semester become permanently ineligible in the scholarship program.  Each semester the 16 South Dakota institutions monitor recipient continuing eligibility in the Opportunity Scholarship program and upload recipient data into a database maintained by the Board of Regents.  These data are carefully monitored at both the institutional and system level to ensure that all students have met the continuing eligibility requirements specified in legislative statute that governs the scholarship program.  For instance, campus personnel review recipient credit hours attempted at the start of each semester, and notify those students who are attempting fewer than 15 credit hours.  Those students who fail to register for at least 15 credit hours are not included in an institution’s term funding request, and subsequently become permanently ineligible for further funding.  As a function of South Dakota Codified Law, Administrative Rules have been develop to manage recipient continued eligibility across five areas including instances when a:

1. Recipient failed to meet the 15 Credit Hour requirement;

2. Recipient is no longer actively enrolled in the program resulting from Persistence Issues (stop-out without executive director exemption), transfer outside the state, and withdrawal from an institution in South Dakota;

3. Recipient fell below the 3.0 Cumulative Grade Point Average;

4. Recipient has failed one or more of the content areas for the Proficiency Examination (Reading, Writing Skills, Science Reasoning, Mathematics), or failed to sit for the exam during the semester established in Board of Regents Policy;

5. Recipient has Graduated with a baccalaureate degree.   

Courses Graded S/U Only

       Students receiving the South Dakota Opportunity Scholarship must complete a minimum of 15 credit hours each term in courses for which a letter grade is received. However, by university policy some courses are graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) only and the student does not have the option of receiving a letter grade. The following lists indicate the courses at each university that are graded S/U only and are the courses that a student may use to meet the minimum of 15 credit hours that must be completed each term provided the student earns a final grade of S. If a course at a university is not on this list, a student may not use the credit hours to meet the minimum of 15 credit hours that must be completed each term.

• Augustana College
• Black Hills State University
• Dakota State University
• Dakota Wesleyan University
• Mount Marty College
• Northern State University
• SD School of Mines & Technology
• South Dakota State University
• University of South Dakota

Treatment of Special Enrollments

       Administrative rules for the Opportunity Scholarship program also outline the impact special enrollments have on a recipients continuing eligibility.  The following conditions for purpose of eligibility apply to special enrollments:

1. Extra Heave Loads;
2. Summer and Interim Sessions;
3. Repeated Courses;
4. Asynchronous Distance Education Courses;
5. Internships and Similar External Placement.