South Heart School - South Heart Eagles

Read the information below from the State of North Dakota Department of Public Instruction.

Good morning everyone-

The new North Dakota Scholarship requirements go fully into effect starting with the Class of 2025, and students can no longer qualify using the old Academic and CTE Scholarship requirements. The new requirements are aligned with Choice Ready but are written with rigor above and beyond what is required for Choice Ready. To qualify for the scholarship under the new requirements, students must meet the requirements of the Essential Skills section at the top of the chart, and then meet the requirements of two of the three pathways (Postsecondary Ready, Workforce Ready, and Military Ready) at the bottom of the chart.

 Be sure that students and parents know that the requirements are different, and make sure that they also know the differences between the Choice Ready requirements and the North Dakota Scholarship requirements. The differences between the ND Scholarship requirements and the Choice Ready requirements are outlined in the table below:

General Scholarship Information:

• Choice Ready Report

  : eTranscript will pull data for many of the indicators for the new scholarship requirements right from the Choice Ready report, so keeping it updated throughout a student’s high school career will ensure the most accurate progress monitoring for that student’s scholarship eligibility. The data in the Choice Ready report is also what we will use to determine whether or not those indicators have been met for purposes of scholarship eligibility.

• 3.0 GPA Requirement

  : Students must have a cumulative non-weighted grade point average of 3.0 or higher to meet the GPA requirement. Under the old requirements, students could have either an overall or 22-credit GPA of 3.0, but with the new requirements, the overall GPA must be 3.0 or higher.

• “C or Better” Requirement

  : Under the new requirements, having a grade below a C is no longer considered an automatic disqualification the same way that it was under the old requirements. However, grades below a C are calculated into the overall GPA, and indicators that require a C or better cannot be used if the grade is below a C.

• ASVAB Score Reports

  : Please send ASVAB score reports to NDDPI if the student meets the requirements of the Military Ready pathway. DO NOT dispose of ASVAB score reports if the student needs it to qualify for the scholarship!! Be sure that everyone at your school that is responsible for records retention is aware of that.

• Scholarship Website

  : The

  NDDPI website

  has been updated to reflect the new requirements being fully in effect.

Testing requirements for the North Dakota Scholarship:

• Testing requirements for each pathway are as follows:

  • Postsecondary Ready Pathway

    : ACT score of 24 or higher

  • Workforce Ready Pathway

    : Act score of 24 or higher or WorkKeys scores of 5 or higher in all three areas (Applied Math, Graphic Literacy, and Workplace Documents)

  • Military Ready

    : ASVAB score of 50 or higher (unless the student has completed basic training, in which case the score needed is 31 or higher)

• An ACT superscore of 24 or higher can satisfy the requirement of earning an ACT score of 24 or higher for the North Dakota Scholarship. Students utilizing a superscore should send a copy of the official ACT score report to NDDPI. If sent electronically through the ACT website, the four-digit code for NDDPI is 2927.

• An SAT score of 1180 or higher can substitute for an ACT score of 24 or higher. Students using an SAT score should send a score report to NDDPI.

• All testing must take place before the student graduates from high school

• Send WorkKeys and ASVAB score reports to NDDPI

Progress Monitoring in eTranscript:

• To access the progress monitoring tool, log into eTranscript, click on “Progress Monitoring” and select the student that you wish to review. On the line that says “North Dakota”, click on the icon that says “12^th”. This will provide you with the progress details for the new scholarship requirements, indicating whether we have documentation that the student has completed each indicator.

• NDIT is creating a progress monitoring tool with a visual similar to the North Dakota Scholarship chart, which will be available later this fall

Application and Reporting Procedures:

• Applications for the North Dakota Scholarship will open on Monday, January 6, 2025, and remain open until Friday, June 6, 2025. 

• The Choice Ready report is due on Monday, June 30. We will start reviewing scholarship applications in June for schools that submit the Choice Ready report early and then continue to process the remainder of the applications in July. Information from the Choice Ready report CANNOT be changed after you submit the report, so please review and ensure that it is correct before submitting. If the school neglects to mark an indicator in the Choice Ready report, the student cannot use that indicator towards qualifying for the scholarship! (No exceptions will be made to this.). Be sure to be aware of which indicators are being marked in each student’s Choice Ready report.

• Non-public schools must complete and submit a

  Non-Public School Verification Form

  for each student applying for the scholarship. This is done to cover the indicators listed in the Choice Ready report (which is not completed by non-public schools).

• All scholarship applications will be reviewed by the end of the day on Tuesday, July 15.

Please let me know if you have questions, thanks everyone!

Jim Upgren

Assistant Director, Office of School Approval and Opportunity
600 E. Boulevard Ave., Dept. 201
Bismarck, ND 58505-0440

(701) 328-2244

www.nd.gov/dpi