Sec. 2201.12. Continental Airlines Flight 3407 Memorial Scholarship

(a) Authority.

The provisions contained within this regulation are made pursuant to authority granted to the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation in sections 653, 655 and 668-g of the Education Law.

(b) Definitions.

As used in sections 604 and 668-g of the Education Law:

(1) Children shall mean:

(i) birth children, adopted children, stepchildren in existence and who survive an individual, or children for whom an individual was a legal guardian; and

(ii) other children related by blood, adoption or marriage to an individual for whom such individual had assumed and was exercising custody and care as of the date of such individual's death.

(2) Corporation shall mean the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation.

(3) Financial dependent shall mean a person who is dependent for his or her support upon an individual who has died as a direct result of the crash of Continental Airlines Flight 3407 in Clarence, New York, on February 12, 2009, upon a showing of unilateral dependence or mutual interdependence upon such individual which may be evidenced by a nexus of factors, including, but not limited to, common ownership of property, common house-holding, shared budgeting, and the length of the relationship between the financial dependent and such individual.

(4) Persons who died as a direct result of the crash shall include the 49 persons aboard Continental Flight 3407 as well as the one person on the ground at the crash site when the crash occurred who died as a result thereof.

(5) Scholarship shall mean the Continental Airlines Flight 3407 Memorial Scholarship.

(6) Spouse shall mean the legal spouse.

(c) Eligibility.

(1) Eligible recipients under section 668-g(1) of the Education Law may be residents or non-residents of New York State and shall attend institutions of higher education within New York State.

(2) Applications shall be filed on forms prescribed by the corporation.

(d) Burden of proof.

(1) It shall be the responsibility of the applicant or his or her agent to provide documentation establishing eligibility for the scholarship.

(2) Documentation may include death and birth certificates, marriage and driver's licenses, joint bank statements or other financial statements, Federal or State tax filings, social security cards, court documents, utility bills, or such other documentation as may be required by the corporation.

(3) Determinations will be based on the totality of the documentation provided.

(4) Failure to provide requested documentation or other information may lead to a determination of ineligibility by the corporation.

(5) Determination of an applicant's ineligibility will be final on the date the notice of ineligibility is received by the applicant; however, an ineligible applicant may be reconsidered if additional information is provided that so warrants.