256.211  National guard STEM-related recruitment and retention incentive programs.
  1.  a.  The adjutant general has the authority under this section to authorize the expenditure of unencumbered or unobligated funds as described in section 256.210, subsection 6, to recruit or retain individuals who have completed or are pursuing training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related military occupational specialties or air force specialty codes by issuing awards through a national guard student loan repayment program in accordance with subsection 2 or by providing a scholarship award to an eligible member of the national guard who is enrolled at an institution defined in section 256.210, subsection 1, paragraph “d”, in a master’s degree program that is in compliance with the federal Edith Nourse Rogers STEM scholarship program established under 38 U.S.C. §3320 in accordance with the requirements of subsection 3.
  b.  The adjutant general can offer a recruitment or retention incentive as authorized by this section in either the military entrance process or within the final year of the service member’s initial contract obligation pending the service member signing a six-year extension. 
  2.  a.  A national guard student loan repayment program is established to be administered by the college student aid commission. Funds for loan repayment awards under the program shall be expended upon the authority of the adjutant general.
  b.  An individual is eligible for a loan repayment award under this subsection if the individual meets all of the following conditions:
  (1)  Is a resident of the state and a member of an Iowa army or air national guard unit while receiving loan repayment awards issued pursuant to this subsection.
  (2)  Satisfactorily completed required initial active duty training.
  (3)  Maintains satisfactory performance of duty upon return from initial active duty training, including attending a minimum ninety percent of scheduled drill dates and attending annual training.
  c.  An applicant for an award under this subsection shall, in accordance with the rules promulgated by the college student aid commission, do all of the following:
  (1)  Complete and file an application for national guard student loan repayment. The individual shall be responsible for the prompt submission of any information required by the national guard and the college student aid commission.
  (2)  File a new application and submit information as required by the national guard and the college student aid commission annually on the basis of which the applicant’s eligibility for the renewed loan repayment will be evaluated and determined.
  d.  The annual amount of an award to an applicant under this subsection shall not exceed five thousand dollars or one hundred percent of the applicant’s total federally guaranteed Stafford loan amount under the federal family education loan program or the federal direct loan program, the applicant’s federal grad plus loans, or the applicant’s federal Perkins loans, including principal and interest, whichever is less. An applicant shall be eligible for a loan repayment award under this subsection for not more than six consecutive years.
  3.  An applicant for a master’s degree scholarship award as described in subsection 1 shall meet the criteria as provided in section 256.210, subsection 1, except that the applicant can be enrolled in a master’s degree program. The provisions of section 256.210, subsections 2, 4, and 5, shall also apply to scholarship awards made under this subsection. A scholarship award provided to a recipient enrolled in a master’s degree program under this subsection shall be limited to thirty-six, or equivalent, credit hours of graduate study.
2021 Acts, ch 65, §5
C2022, §261.86A
2023 Acts, ch 19, §2641
C2024, §256.211
Referred to in §256.210