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Scholarships abound in Kansas for those who choose to pursue higher education in the Sunflower State. One of the most sought-after scholarships is the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act awarded by the Kansas Board of Regents.
To be eligible for the scholarship, high school and college students must attend a Kansas community college or be a state resident. You do not have to pay back any of the money you get from this scholarship, making it an excellent choice for helping you pay for college.
About the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act
The Kansas Promise Scholarship Act was enacted by the state legislature to grant service scholarships to students attending Kansas community colleges and Kansas technical institutions to further their education in particular subjects.
Each eligible field of study must be in one of the four fields:
- Information technology and security
- Mental and physical healthcare
- Advanced manufacturing and building trades
- Early childhood education and development
Alternatively, the Board of Regents has selected one more subject of study as qualifying by the university. It must be in the areas of:
- Agriculture
- Food and natural resources
- Education and training
- Law, public safety, corrections, and security
- Distribution and logistics
The institution must keep any extra programs in place for at least three years before selecting a new one, as long as the new program corresponds to a high-paying, in-demand, or critically needed employment.
Eligible institutions must have at least one existing eligible program to be considered eligible and include:
- Public community colleges
- Public technical colleges
- Washburn Institute of Technology
- Private, non-profit institutions that offer eligible programs
The institutions will be responsible for awarding individual scholarships to students who meet the eligibility requirements of the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act and entering into a service agreement with each recipient.
The monies provided by the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act must also be used to reimburse scholarship winners for the costs of their chosen course of study, including tuition, fees, books, and other materials.
Program Benefits
The Kansas Promise Scholarship Act is a last dollar scholarship. To put it another way, a student may be eligible for a scholarship equal to the sum of all of their out-of-pocket expenses, including tuition, fees, books, and supplies.
This award may be utilized for up to 68 credit hours or $20,000 in one or more of these qualified programs during the course of a student’s lifetime.
To be eligible for the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act and receive a scholarship, your educational institution will take into account the cost of the program you select, any other financial aid that you may be receiving, as well as the information from the FAFSA that you submit when applying for the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act.
The scholarship grant is restricted to the average cost of what a two-year eligible public institution charges for the same area of study for students attending an eligible post-secondary school for four years.
Eligibility Requirements
For students to be eligible for a Kansas Promise Scholarship Act, they must:
- Be a U.S. citizen and Kansas resident; and
- Have graduated from a secondary school within the preceding 12 months or have attended a secondary school and obtained an equivalent credential within the preceding 12 months; or
- Be a Kansas resident for the preceding three consecutive years; or
- Be a dependent child of a military service member permanently stationed in another state and who, within the preceding 12 months, graduated from any out-of-state secondary school or obtained a high school equivalency; or
- Have been in the custody of the KS Department of Children and Families at any time during grades 9-12.
Also, to be eligible, students must have a family household income of:
- $100,000 or less for a family of two;
- $150,000 or less for a family of three; and
- $150,000 + $4,800 per additional family member beyond three.
Students satisfy the requirements of the scholarship agreement if they:
- Satisfy all the requirements of the scholarship agreement;
- Commence service as a military service member after receiving the scholarship;
- Are determined by the Board of Regents to have “made the best possible effort to do so”; or
- Are unable to satisfy the requirements but due to disability or death of the recipient.
After completing the program, students must either live and work in Kansas for a least of two years or enroll in a Kansas higher education institution and then live and work in Kansas for a minimum of two years.
Within six months after failure, a student is required to return all of the scholarship and accumulated interest (at the federal PLUS program interest rate) if any condition of the agreement has not been completed and the student has not met the criteria of the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act.
The Kansas Promise Scholarship Act Application
The application for the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act for Fall 2022, Spring 2023, and Summer 2023 can only be made online. To apply, students must:
- Complete the required scholarship application;
- Complete the FAFSA; and
- Enroll in, and complete within 36 months of first being awarded a Kansas Promise Scholarship Act, an eligible field of study at an eligible institution.
The Kansas Promise Service Scholarship Renewal Application must be completed if your program of study extends beyond one year.
The Kansas Promise Scholarship Act does not need you to be qualified for a Pell Grant or accept student loans or work study in order to earn the award. You have the option of taking classes either part-time or full-time. Your program of study must be completed within 36 months of the first day of class for which the grant was initially given.
Additionally, the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act requires that you sign a commitment to finish the program within 36 months and to reside and work in Kansas for two consecutive years after the successful completion of your program of study.
To avoid having to return the amount of scholarship help you got, you must complete the program and remain in Kansas, as well as work in Kansas. Failure to do so may result in you being charged interest and collection expenses, which may include lawyers’ fees.
Closing Date
As the process of applying to colleges starts, the deadline for Kansas Promise Scholarship Act applications approaches. Prior to applying for a college or university, be sure you have submitted your application. To find out whether your school is on the list, visit this page.
Contact Details
Need some help troubleshooting any technical issues? Or, do you simply have additional questions regarding the scholarship that we have not covered here? In that case, please contact the Kansas Board of Regents customer service by email at promise@ksbor.org.
The Kansas Promise Scholarship Act Official Website
Applications for this scholarship can only be done online. To start your application, visit the official Kansas Board of Regents website at www.kansasregents.org and head over to Student Financial Aid section. Feel free to bookmark this page to keep yourself updated with more scholarship opportunities for college students.
