Relating to participation in the Texas Leadership Scholars Program.

Contracts

• Student Award Letters: All scholarship offer letters must be amended to include a force majeure clause regarding state appropriation and a specific statutory term limit. The letter must explicitly state that funding is capped at four years per program by state law.
• State Grant Agreements: Review incoming MOUs from the THECB. Ensure the grant agreement acknowledges your institution's specific "guaranteed" research scholarship allocation to prevent administrative oversight.

Hiring/Training

• Financial Aid Officers: Staff must be trained to distinguish between "Leadership" and "Research" scholars in the disbursement system, as the latter requires a valuation of at least 150% of the former.
• Research Administrators: Designate a liaison between the Graduate School and Financial Aid to manage the nomination process for the guaranteed research scholar slots.

Reporting & Record-Keeping

• Doctoral Degree Verification: The allocation of funds is now tied to the number of research doctoral degrees awarded. Your Institutional Research (IR) data must reconcile exactly with THECB data to maximize your funding draw.
• The "Four-Year" Flag: Update your Student Information System (SIS) to flag recipients entering their fourth year of funding. Automated alerts are required to prevent unauthorized fifth-year disbursements which will result in audit findings and repayment liabilities.

Fees & Costs

• No New Fees: There are no new statutory fees.
• Budgetary Impact: While the scholarship funds are state-appropriated, institutions must absorb the administrative cost of the dual-track management (Leadership vs. Research) and the enhanced reporting requirements.