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Gov. McMaster Announces New Workforce Scholarship Initiative
South Carolina will spend $17 million of COVID-19 education relief funds to fully pay for anyone to go to technical colleges for two years to train to enter high-demand jobs, Gov. Henry McMaster announced last week.
The Workforce Scholarships for the Future pilot program will initially be funded through the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund and is intended to address the state’s labor shortage.
All adults or recent high school graduates will be eligible for the scholarships at one of South Carolina’s 16 technical colleges and may use them for associate degrees or industry credentials in high-demand careers like manufacturing, health care, computer science and information technology, transportation distribution and logistics, or construction.
In addition to maintaining a 2.0 or higher grade point average, the approximately 15,000 scholarship recipients will also be required to volunteer with a nonprofit or public-service organization, get a job or take a financial literacy course.
McMaster said he also plans to ask the General Assembly to provide an additional $124 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to extend the program through June 30, 2024.
The program is slated to take effect on Jan. 1, 2022.
Read news coverage of the announcement here.
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