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Panel reviews changes to Career Builders program and expands need‑based grant cap to in‑state highest tuition rate
Summary
Senate Bill 2147 would clarify repayment terms for the Career Builders scholarship/loan program, allow students living within 50 miles of North Dakota to qualify, and raise the supplemental state grant cap to the highest in‑state public university tuition rate; fiscal note estimated at about $6.1 million per year.
Senate Bill 2147, presented to the Appropriations - Education and Environment Division, would make several adjustments to the state’s Career Builders program and to the supplemental state grant for low‑income students. Senator Jonathan Sickler, sponsor of the bill, said the changes aim to improve workforce recruitment and increase access to higher education.
Sickler told the committee the Career Builders program has two components — scholarships and a loan‑repayment match — intended to steer students into identified high‑demand jobs. The bill clarifies that if a recipient fails to meet the state’s work requirement the recipient would be required to repay only the state portion of the award, not both the state and the private donor amounts. “This is clarifying what was kind of the intent back when the legislature put this in,” Sickler said.
The bill also widens residential eligibility for the program: under the proposed changes a student who works in North Dakota but lives in a border community within 50 miles of the state line would remain eligible. “This would extend the opportunity to live within 50 miles of North Dakota,” Sickler said, noting housing pressures in border communities.
On the supplemental state grant, bill language would remove a fixed dollar cap ($13.75 per semester in current statute) and instead tie the award ceiling to the highest in‑state tuition rate at a public university. Brenda Zastepo of the North Dakota University System summarized the changes and the statewide fiscal estimate: the policy change to the grant cap is modeled to cost about $6.1 million per year in additional state spending. Zastepo also said the bill includes legislative intent language to limit total state funded scholarships and grants to no more than a student’s cost of attendance.
Committee members asked technical and policy questions about repayment terms, donor agreements and how the residency change might affect employer participation. Witnesses said the bill is intended to streamline administration and increase program uptake by employers and donors. No committee vote was taken at the hearing.
