118 STAT. 3681 PUBLIC LAW 108–458—DEC. 17, 2004 regulations issued by the Director of National Intelligence, but shall in no case exceed the cost of tuition, fees, and other authorized expenses as established by the Director. ‘‘(5) USE OF SCHOLARSHIPS.—A scholarship provided under this section may be expended for tuition, fees, and other author- ized expenses as established by the Director of National Intel- ligence by regulation. ‘‘(6) PAYMENT TO INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The Director of National Intelligence may enter into a contractual agreement with an institution of higher education under which the amounts provided for a scholarship under this section for tuition, fees, and other authorized expenses are paid directly to the institution with respect to which the scholarship is provided. ‘‘(f) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION FOR CURRENT EMPLOYEES.— ‘‘(1) SET ASIDE OF SCHOLARSHIPS.—Notwithstanding para- graphs (1) and (3) of subsection (b), 10 percent of the scholar- ships awarded under this section shall be set aside for individ- uals who are employees of agencies on the date of enactment of this section to enhance the education of such employees in areas of critical needs of agencies. ‘‘(2) FULL- OR PART-TIME EDUCATION.—Employees who are awarded scholarships under paragraph (1) shall be permitted to pursue undergraduate or graduate education under the schol- arship on a full-time or part-time basis. ‘‘(g) EMPLOYEE SERVICE.— ‘‘(1) PERIOD OF SERVICE.—Except as provided in subsection (i)(2), the period of service for which an individual shall be obligated to serve as an employee of the agency is 24 months for each academic year for which a scholarship under this section is provided. Under no circumstances shall the total period of obligated service be more than 8 years. ‘‘(2) BEGINNING OF SERVICE.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subparagraph (B), obligated service under paragraph (1) shall begin not later than 60 days after the individual obtains the edu- cational degree for which the scholarship was provided. ‘‘(B) DEFERRAL.—In accordance with regulations estab- lished by the Director of National Intelligence, the Director or designee may defer the obligation of an individual to provide a period of service under paragraph (1) if the Director or designee determines that such a deferral is appropriate. ‘‘(h) REPAYMENT.— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Scholarship recipients who fail to main- tain a high level of academic standing, as defined by the Director of National Intelligence, who are dismissed from their educational institutions for disciplinary reasons, or who volun- tarily terminate academic training before graduation from the educational program for which the scholarship was awarded, shall be in breach of their contractual agreement and, in lieu of any service obligation arising under such agreement, shall be liable to the United States for repayment within 1 year after the date of default of all scholarship funds paid to them and to the institution of higher education on their behalf under the agreement, except as provided in subsection (i)(2). The VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:54 Nov 10, 2005 Jkt 029194 PO 00000 Frm 00215 Fmt 6580 Sfmt 6581 C:\STATUTES\2004\29194PT4.001 APPS10 PsN: 29194PT4
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