§ 667-a. Supplemental tuition assistance program. 1. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds that to further the goal of equal opportunity it is necessary to assure the availability of supplemental assistance for the successful remediation of educationally disadvantaged students in addition to assistance currently available under existing statute for students with financial need. Accordingly, tuition assistance shall be extended to students whose need for remediation precludes them from fulfilling the program pursuit and academic progress requirements of the tuition assistance program.

2. Operation. (a) The supplemental tuition assistance program shall be governed by all law, rules and regulations pertaining to the tuition assistance program provided however that, notwithstanding any law, rule and regulation to the contrary, eligibility for supplemental tuition assistance program awards shall be limited to any undergraduate student receiving aid under this article for the first time during school year nineteen hundred ninety-five–nineteen hundred ninety-six or thereafter who meets both of the following conditions:

(i) The student shall not be enrolled in the higher education opportunity program, educational opportunity program, the Percy Ellis Sutton search for education, elevation and knowledge program or the college discovery program.

(ii) The student must be accepted into an institution of higher education and be enrolled in an approved non-credit bearing remediation program in the summer immediately preceding and/or immediately following the initial year of matriculated study.

(b) Students who meet the conditions described in paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall be eligible to receive up to one quarter of the annual tuition assistance program award for each session, up to two sessions, of summer remediation in addition to those tuition assistance program awards specified in subdivision two of section six hundred sixty-seven of this article.