To qualify for course scholarship funds through CREATE, recipients must be employed full-time by a South Carolina public school of SCDE-operated program for the duration of the semester (or school year) in which they are awarded scholarships funds, and must remain full-time employed until completion of their licensure program.
CREATE funds may not be used to underwrite coursework costs required for SCDE licensure renewal, restoring an expired educator license, adding another area of licensure for personal preference, or for continuing/personal professional development (i.e., obtaining a master’s degree). Funds are limited to individuals considering a career change into special education or a related services field (behavior interventionist, orientation and mobility specialist, school psychologist, speech-language pathologist). CREATE exists solely for the purpose of growing a highly qualified credentialed special education teacher and related services personnel workforce in South Carolina.
Recipients must be re-qualified each year (after July 1) for course scholarship funds. Documentation for programs leading to add-on, initial, and advance State licensure in special education as well as add-on national certification (BCBA and COMS), including worksheets and acceptance letters/programs of study, need to be submitted only once. The Scholarship Loan Agreement is to be submitted once, unless the recipient’s employment changes (i.e., position and/or school district/school affiliation) in which the Agreement must be submitted again with revised information and district signatures. Special education teaching permits and PACE-ED licenses, both issued annually by SCDE, will be verified annually. All recipients must submit an updated CREATE application annually for purposes of updating contact information.
CREATE operates on limited funds each year; therefore, course scholarships are awarded on a first- come basis. As funds allow, the goal is to award qualified recipients one or two three-credit course scholarships per semester, which underwrites course tuition and textbook costs. If there are available carryover funds from previous semesters, recipients may receive additional course awards.
Upon completion of ones licensure program funded through CREATE, the recipient must obtain employment (or remain employed in) a position reflecting the newly-obtained licensure area in a South Carolina public or school for a minimum of three (3) years, or be subject to reimbursement to the South Carolina Department of Education for all CREATE-sponsored courses in which the recipient received scholarship funds.
Recipients will give SCDE authorization to use information from their CREATE application and from completed coursework for evaluation and research purposes, with the understanding that the recipient will never be named personally or identified publicly in any presentation or written report.
All coursework sponsored through colleges/universities in the CREATE consortium have received prior approval from the SCDE Office of Educator Services for purposes of initial or add-on licensure.
Recipients seeking add-on licensure are responsible to complete and submit to SCDE the Request for Change form (see Forms tab at website). In addition, recipients will obtain and pay for their own official transcripts of coursework completed from the respective college/university and submit to the SCDE Office of Educator Services. Recipients are responsible to pay non-degree/degree application fees to the college(s) in which they are taking scholarship coursework.
CREATE cannot guarantee that courses taken for add-on or PACE-ED purposes will count concurrently toward master's/graduate degree program requirements at any of the CREATE consortium or other colleges. Recipients may either seek pre-approval through their college program advisors for licensure courses to be applied toward their master’s/graduate degree program, or they may submit transcripts of completed licensure courses to their respective college for transfer consideration, at which time the appropriate college officials will make a determination on whether the course can be applied toward the candidate’s degree program. The goal of CREATE is to financially assist individuals in obtaining add-on, initial, or advanced State licensure or add-on national certification, not completion of an advanced degree, unless the advanced degree leads to initial State licensure.
CREATE officials retain the right to refuse course scholarship funds to any potential or qualified recipient who exhibits unprofessional or unethical behavior, or who causes SCDE to forfeit grant funds unnecessarily through withdrawal from, or failure/unsatisfactory grades in, coursework in which they received CREATE scholarship funds. Recipients who earn incomplete grades will be placed on inactive status until such time as they replace the incomplete grade with a satisfactory final grade. Recipients who earn unsatisfactory grades will be placed on suspended status until such time as they replace the course in which they earned the unsatisfactory grade with their own funds, after which they will be reinstated in CREATE in good standing and scholarship funds will resume.
Recipients who accept course scholarship funds and complete course credits, and who subsequently renege on their commitment (per their signed Scholarship Loan Agreement) to complete their licensure program, or who fail to return three years of service in SC publicschools in the field of completed licensure, both of which effectively suggest that the recipient may have intentionally accepted CREATE funds for personal professional development or advancement (which is not allowed per these Policies & Conditions, provision #2), are subject to reimbursement to the SCDE for all scholarship funds received.
Recipients who are unable or fail to complete their licensure program, or choose not to complete their licensure program, for whatever reason (including provision #10), must complete the Withdrawal Notification form (see Forms tab at website).
Recipients who are unable, or choose not, to return at least three years of service to the State in their newly-obtained licensure area, subsequent to completion of their program in which they received CREATE scholarship funds, are subject to reimbursement of CREATE scholarship funds received, pursuant to these Policies & Conditions (see provision #11), must complete and submit the Hardship/Forbearance form to SCDE (see Forms tab at website).