NYS Child Welfare Worker Incentive Scholarship Program – Service Terms and Conditions

Recipients of the NYS Child Welfare Worker Incentive Scholarship Program award must execute a service contract in which they agree to:

• Both work in a voluntary not-for-profit child welfare agency in NYS licensed by the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) as a child welfare worker providing direct care services on a full-time basis and reside in NYS for five years.

• Repay the amounts disbursed, plus interest, if they:
  • fail to complete their degree program within a reasonable time, as determined by HESC;
  • fail to begin full-time employment as a child welfare worker providing direct care services at an OCFS-licensed voluntary not-for-profit child welfare agency in NYS within one year after completing their degree;
  • fail to be employed full-time for five continuous years at an OCFS-licensed voluntary not-for-profit child welfare agency in NYS, and maintain residency in NYS while employed; or
  • fail to respond to requests by HESC regarding the status of their academic or professional progress.

Upon failure to comply with the statutory, regulatory, contractual, administrative or other requirements of this program, all awards received shall convert to a 10-year interest-bearing student loan.

The interest rate for the life of the loan shall be fixed and equal to the Undergraduate Unsubsidized Stafford loan rate published by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the service contract is or was signed. Interest shall accrue from the day each award payment is disbursed, and shall be capitalized on the day the recipient violates the service contract or on the date HESC deems the recipient was no longer able or willing to fulfill the terms of the service contract.