Section 1075.100  Purpose

 

This Part provides uniform tuition and fee waiver definitions and guidelines to be used by all Illinois public universities in reporting tuition and fee waivers to the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois General Assembly.

 

(Source:  Amended at 43 Ill. Reg. 1775, effective January 24, 2019)

Section 1075.200  Definitions

 

"Board" means the Board of Higher Education.

 

"Public University" means Chicago State University, Eastern Illinois University, Governors State University, Illinois State University, Northeastern Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University, University of Illinois, and Western Illinois University.

 

"Standard Tuition and Fee Waiver Chart of Accounts" means the standardized list of waiver programs approved by the Board as outlined in Section 1075.500 and used for reporting purposes to the Board and the General Assembly. The Standard Tuition and Fee Waiver Chart of Accounts includes the following general categories:

 

"Mandatory Waiver" means a waiver that an institution is required by State statute to grant to students that meet the specific parameters and criteria included in statute.

 

"Discretionary Waiver" means a waiver that is granted at the discretion of the institution. Discretionary waivers include the following categories:

 

"Faculty and Staff Waiver" means a discretionary waiver awarded to public university faculty, staff, or other employees or their dependents.

 

"Student Talent or Merit Waiver" means a discretionary waiver awarded to students based on talent in a particular field, academic merit, or special status.

 

"Student Need Waiver" means a discretionary waiver granted to students demonstrating financial need.

 

"Student Service Waiver" means a discretionary waiver granted to students to support the university mission, goals, and objectives through participation in outside contracts; graduate or undergraduate research, teaching, or other assignments; training or grant programs; external internship programs; clinical portions of degree programs conducted at other institutions; or other student experiences.

 

"Waiver" means the amount of revenue that the public university intentionally relinquishes for one of the purposes included in the Standard Tuition and Fee Waiver Chart of Accounts and should be recorded as an expenditure.

 

"Waiver Accounting Classifications" means the following categories of waivers used for accounting purposes:

 

"Budgeted Waiver" means an estimated amount identified by the university as the total amount available to students in a particular fiscal year. Budgeted waivers are not identified with specific students or student positions. 

 

"Granted Waiver" means a waiver that has been allocated to specific students or student positions. Granted waivers are available to students as reductions in tuition and/or fee charges.

 

"Expended Waiver" means that an individual student has been identified as the recipient of a granted waiver and the student's financial obligation account has been reduced by the granted waiver amount. Expended waivers may not exceed granted waivers. In instances when a student withdraws from class and is entitled to a reduction in tuition charges, a concurrent reduction in the expended tuition waiver may be recorded to recognize the reduction in remised tuition.

 

"Waiver Agreement" means an agreement between the public university and the student to reduce or eliminate the tuition and/or fees that normally would be charged to the student.

 

Section 1075.300  Waiver Accounting Classifications

 

All tuition and fees assessed against students should be recorded as revenue, even though there may be no intention of collecting the revenue from the student. A waiver is the amount of revenue that the university intentionally relinquishes for one of the purposes included in the Standard Tuition and Fee Waiver Chart of Accounts in accordance with Section 1075.500 and should be recorded as university expenditures. Tuition and fee waivers should be classified for accounting purposes by the university as budgeted, granted, or expended waivers. The classification of tuition and fee waivers is dependent on the point in the budgeting and accounting cycle that the transaction takes place.

 

Section 1075.400  Fiscal Year Reporting

 

a)         Public universities shall report tuition and fee waivers annually to the Board in a common format provided by the Board.

 

b)         Waivers shall be reported as budgeted, granted or expended waivers within the particular fiscal year in which the corresponding tuition and fees are recognized as revenue.

 

c)         In instances in which waivers are adjusted after the end of the fiscal year, universities shall establish a cutoff date of August 31 to facilitate fiscal year waiver reporting. Adjustments made after the cutoff date will be allocated to the following fiscal year. Public universities will develop appropriate written procedures to implement the cutoff date.

 

 

Section 1075.500  Standard Tuition and Fee Waiver Chart of Accounts 

 

Institutions must report waivers to the Board and Illinois General Assembly using the following waiver categories. The Board must approve all university requests for additional waiver reporting categories.

 

a)         Mandatory Waivers shall be granted in accordance with the following statutes:

 

1)         Teachers Scholarships: Special Education Grants [110 ILCS 947/65.15]

 

2)         General Assembly Scholarships [105 ILCS 5/30-9]

 

3)         Reserve Officers' Training Corps Scholarships [105 ILCS 5/30-16.1]

 

4)         Department of Children and Family Services Scholarships and Fee Waiver [20 ILCS 505/8]

 

5)         Partial Tuition Waivers for Children of University Employees [110 ILCS 305/7f, 520/8f, 660/5-90, 665/10-90, 670/15-90, 675/20-90, 680/25-90, 685/30-90, and 690/35-90]

 

6)         Senior Citizen Courses Act [110 ILCS 990]

 

7)         Honorary Scholarships [110 ILCS 305/9]

 

8)         Illinois Veteran Grants [110 ILCS 947/40]

 

9)         Illinois National Guard Grants [110 ILCS 947/45]

 

10)         MIA/POW Scholarships [105 ILCS 5/30-14.2]

 

b)         Discretionary Waivers

 

1)         Faculty and Staff Waivers

 

A)        Faculty and Administrators

 

B)        Civil Service Staff: University Employees

 

C)        Civil Service Staff: Interinstitutional and Related Agencies

 

D)        Retired University Employees

 

E)        Children of Deceased Employees

 

2)         Student Talent and Merit Waivers

 

A)        Academic or Other Talent

 

B)        Athletic

 

C)        Gender Equity in Intercollegiate Athletics [110 ILCS 205/9.24]

 

D)        Foreign Exchange Students

 

E)        Out-of-State Students

 

F)         Foreign Students

 

G)        Fellowships

 

3)         Student Need Waivers

 

A)        Financial Aid Waivers

 

B)        Special Program Waivers

 

4)         Student Service Waivers

 

A)        Cooperating Professionals

 

B)        Research Assistants

 

C)        Teaching Assistants

 

D)        Other Assistants

 

E)        Contract/Training Grants

 

(Source:  Amended at 43 Ill. Reg. 1775, effective January 24, 2019)

Section 1075.600  Institutional Requirements

 

a)         Waiver Approvals and Allocations

 

1)         Each public university shall adopt written policies that specify the institutional processes for authorizing specific tuition and fee waiver programs and the purposes of such programs, establishing waiver budget and expenditure levels, and allocating waivers to waiver programs.

 

2)         Each public university shall adopt an official list of waiver programs in which the university has chosen to participate. Allowable waiver programs include only those in accordance with Section 1075.500. The list of waiver programs offered by the university may be amended at the university's discretion and must be available to students, upon request. All waiver programs added to the university's list of available waiver programs also must be listed in the Standard Tuition and Fee Waiver Chart of Accounts. The university's list, and all amendments to the list, must be provided to the Board. 

 

3)         Each public university shall develop written procedures to assure that the total amount of budgeted tuition and fee waivers and the amount of expended tuition and fee waivers, by type, academic or administrative unit, and instructional level, are fully disclosed to the university board of trustees.

 

            b)         Waiver Applications

 

1)         Each public university shall adopt written procedures concerning waiver applications. Public universities may have separate waiver applications for various waiver programs. 

 

2)         Each public university shall adopt and publish eligibility criteria for each waiver program in which it participates. 

 

3)         Waiver applications shall collect the information needed to determine whether a student meets the published eligibility criteria.

 

c)         Student Eligibility and Selection

 

1)         Each public university shall adopt written procedures to assure that waivers are granted only to students eligible for the waivers. The written procedures must include the criteria and processes for selecting waiver recipients when the number of eligible students applying for waivers exceeds the amount of available waivers.

 

2)         Each department or unit granting waivers must have a clear description of the processes used to assign waivers, criteria used to award waivers (beyond the threshold criteria), and identification of persons who participate in the selection of individual waivers. Written documentation shall be maintained on why individuals were selected to receive waivers, as well as why applicants were not selected to receive waivers. 

 

d)         Waiver Agreements

 

1)         Each public university shall adopt written procedures that provide the requirements for waiver agreements between students and the university.

 

2)         Each student selected to receive a waiver for which the student is required to perform service must sign an agreement at the time of appointment with the university that delineates and determines the conditions of that service. 

 

3)         The agreement shall include the level of waiver support that the public university will provide to the student. 

 

e)         Records and Retention.  Each public university shall adopt written procedures for waiver records and records retention incorporating the following principles:

 

1)         Tuition and fee waiver records include, but are not limited to, written documentation for the university approved waiver listing, application cutoff dates, eligibility and selection criteria for each waiver program, awarded and rejected applications, selection records, award notifications, records of rejected applicants, and procedures for entering waiver data into the university accounting system.

 

2)         Tuition and fee waiver records shall be maintained for a minimum of five years. After five years, the university may dispose of the records, providing all audits have been completed under the direction of the Office of the Auditor General, if necessary, and no litigation is pending or anticipated.  Each university, at its discretion, may retain records for longer periods.

 

            f)         Monitoring Waiver Programs

 

1)         Each public university shall identify the administrative unit responsible for the overall monitoring of the university waiver program. The unit shall be responsible for assuring that procedures are in place to assure that waivers are awarded within the requirements of the State of Illinois, the policies of the Board, and the policies and procedures of the university board of trustees. 

 

2)         The designated administrative unit is responsible for assuring that the university adopts written policies and procedures and assuring implementation of appropriate methods of counting and reporting the value and number of waivers.

 

3)         Each public university shall annually submit to the Board the university's policies and procedures for administering the university waiver program.  Board staff will review the policies and procedures and report to the Board the results of that review in its evaluation of waiver programs.

 

g)         University Internal Audits. It shall be the responsibility of each public university to assure that its tuition and fee waiver program is included in the university's internal audit plan and subject to periodic review by its internal audit staff.

 

 

Section 1075.700  Waiver Limits (Repealed)

 

(Source:  Repealed at 43 Ill. Reg. 1775, effective January 24, 2019)