South Carolina H 3632: STEM scholarship stipends

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3632 Text of Previous Version (Apr. 30, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3632

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

Indicates Matter Stricken

Indicates New Matter

Polled Out Of Committee

Majority Favorable

April 30, 2025

H. 3632

Introduced 
by Reps. Erickson, Spann-Wilder and Bauer 

S. Printed 4/30/25--S.

Read the first time April 30, 2025

________

The committee on Senate Education

To whom was referred a Bill (H. 3632) to amend 
the South Carolina Code of Laws by amending Section 59-149-15, relating to 
requirements for additional LIFE Scholarship stipends, and Section 59-104-25, 
etc., respectfully

Report:

Has polled the Bill out majority favorable.

_______

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING 
SECTION 59-149-15, RELATING TO requirements for ADDITIONAL LIFE SCHOLARSHIP 
STIPENDs, AND section 59-104-25, RELATING TO requirements for ADDITIONAL 
PALMETTO FELLOWS SCHOLARSHIP STIPENDs, both so as to provide that certain 
coursework in economics and business statistics must count towards certain 
required freshman year coursework in mathematics and science, and to clarify 
these provisions apply beginning with accounting majors who completed such 
coursework as freshmEn in the 2024-2025 SCHOOL YEAR.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Section 59-149-15(B) of the S.C. Code is amended to 
read:

 (B) The Commission on Higher Education 
by regulation shall define what constitutes a science or mathematics major, 
applicable beginning with the 2024-2025 School Year to persons who did not 
receive a LIFE Scholarship stipend before the 2024-2025 School Year. This 
definition of a science or mathematics major must include, at a minimum, majors 
in science or mathematics disciplines, computer science or informational 
technology, engineering, accounting, and health carehealthcare and related disciplines including medicine and 
dentistry; provided, that nothing herein prevents a student from changing 
majors within acceptable science or mathematics disciplines. For purposes of determining stipend eligibility of accounting 
majors, courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and business statistics completed 
by an accounting major in his freshman year must count towards the requirement 
in subsection (A) that the student shall complete at least fourteen credit hours 
of instruction in mathematics and science courses during the student's freshman 
year, and these provisions apply beginning with students who took microeconomics, 
macroeconomics, and business statistics courses as freshman accounting majors 
during the 2024-2025 School Year so as to enable them to have those courses 
count toward the fourteen-hour coursework requirement in subsection (A) for 
purposes of attaining LIFE Scholarship stipend eligibility.

SECTION 2. Section 59-104-25(B) of the S.C. Code is amended to 
read:

 (B) The Commission on Higher Education 
by regulation shall define what constitutes a science or mathematics major, 
applicable beginning with the 2024-2025 School Year to persons who did not 
receive a Palmetto Fellows Scholarship stipend before the 2024-2025 School 
Year. This definition of a science or mathematics major must include, at a 
minimum, majors in science or mathematics disciplines, computer science or 
informational technology, engineering, accounting, and health 
care healthcare and related disciplines 
including medicine and dentistry; provided, that nothing herein prevents a 
student from changing majors within acceptable science or mathematics 
disciplines. For purposes of determining stipend 
eligibility of accounting majors, courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, 
and business statistics completed by an accounting major in his freshman year 
must count towards the requirement in subsection (A) that the student shall 
complete at least fourteen credit hours of instruction in mathematics and 
science courses during the student's freshman year, and these provisions apply 
beginning with students who took microeconomics, macroeconomics, and business 
statistics courses as freshman accounting majors during the 2024-2025 School 
Year so as to enable them to have those courses count toward the fourteen-hour 
coursework requirement in subsection (A) for purposes of attaining Palmetto 
Fellows Scholarship stipend eligibility.

SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval 
by the Governor.

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This web page was last updated on April 30, 2025 at 11:24 PM