Eligible applicants employed in priority fields shall be grouped by field, and the number of awards shall be proportionally distributed among priority fields. Within priority fields, applicants shall be ranked according to graduation date, with the most recent graduation date receiving the highest priority, and then application completion date, with the earliest application completion date receiving the highest priority. If applicants have identical graduation dates and application completion dates, applicants shall be ranked according to income, with the lowest income receiving the highest priority. The top 50 percent of applicants, determined by the priority rankings, shall receive an award for 3 years, and the remaining applicants shall receive an award for 1 year but may reapply annually for 2 additional years. Except as provided in §G of this regulation, award decisions shall be announced in December of each year. Except as provided in Regulation .06 of this chapter, awards for resident teacher certificates shall only receive a one-time award regardless of the amount of their loan debt. Award decisions for law school students shall be announced in mid-January of each year. The Office of Student Financial Assistance has the authority to verify information concerning applicants and recipients for the purpose of administering this program.