Sec. 2201.7. American Airlines Flight 587 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-f of the Education Law.

(b) Definitions.

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

(1) the term American Airlines Flight 587 Memorial Scholarship (hereinafter scholarship) may also be known as the New York State Flight 587 Memorial Scholarship;

(2) the term children shall be that found in section 601 of the Education Law;

(3) the term spouse shall mean the legal spouse;

(4) the term 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 American Airlines Flight 587 in Rockaway, Queens on November 12, 2001, 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;

(5) the term persons who died as a direct result of the crash shall include the 260 persons aboard the aircraft as well as the six persons on the ground at the crash site when the crash occurred who died as a result thereof.

(c) Eligibility.

(1) Eligible recipients under section 668-f(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) New York State residents attending out of state institutions of higher education may be eligible to receive scholarships in accordance with sections 604 and 668-f of the Education Law if on August 2, 2005, they were matriculated and in attendance at an institution meeting the eligibility requirements of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, and were New York State residents at the time.

(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 a totality of the documentation provided.

(4) Failure to provide requested documentation or other information may lead to ineligibility.

(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.