Section 38A. There shall be in the division a clean waters scholarship intern program which shall be administered by the director.

The director, subject to appropriation and grants from other sources, may grant scholarships providing for the payment of room, board, tuition and other fees to any person who is eligible to attend an accredited college or university and who enrolls at such college or university in a course of study leading to an engineering degree satisfactory to the director. In no event shall any student receive such scholarship aid for more than four years.

To be eligible for such scholarship a person shall (1) be a citizen of the United States and a resident of the commonwealth; (2) be a high school graduate or have an equivalent education; (3) have been accepted for admission as a regular student in an accredited college or university approved by the director to pursue a course of instruction satisfactory to the director; (4) contract, with the consent of his parent or legal guardian if he is a minor, with the director or his designated representative, to serve with the division for a period of three years following his graduation, and to serve with the division during the regular periods of summer vacation while attending such college or university except for such vacation periods as the director may establish by regulation; provided however, that the division shall not be liable to pay wages to said student during said vacation periods. Service rendered to the division by a recipient of such a scholarship during the three year period following his graduation, and during the regular periods of summer vacation, and such other vacation periods as the director may establish, shall not be subject to the provisions of chapter thirty-one.

The director may, subject to available appropriations and grants from other sources, establish within the division a program of graduate study for eligible persons wishing to attend any accredited graduate program at a college or university in order to further the training of personnel for the more efficient administration of sections twenty-six to fifty-three, inclusive.

The scholarship awards or aid granted by the director under this section shall be on a competitive basis.

The director may adopt such rules and regulations as he deems necessary to carry out the programs authorized by this section.