| (a) Acceptance of applications will depend on the availability of funds. The Board, in consultation with the eligible institutions, will establish an application deadline each year, at which time the qualified applicants will be grouped according to whether they are renewal or initial applicants. Renewal applicants will receive priority over first-time applicants. (b) If there are not sufficient funds to provide loan repayment to all qualified initial applicants, the applications will be scored according to their rank in relation to the following criteria, with the highest scoring applications receiving the awards: (1) those applicants whose presence on the faculty or administration of the institution increases the racial/ethnic diversity of the faculty or administration; (2) the length of time an applicant has held a doctoral degree, with priority given to new conferees; and (3) the degree of racial/ethnic diversity among the faculty and administration at the applicant's institution, as compared to the other institutions that have applicants in the pool, with priority given to the schools with less ethnic diversity. (4) If there are not sufficient funds for all applicants with identical scores, the awards will be granted on the basis of the degree to which the applicants' presence on the faculty or administration of the institution increases the racial/ethnic diversity of the faculty or administration. (c) If there are not sufficient funds to provide loan repayment to all renewal applicants, available funds will be divided equally among all renewal applicants. |
