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Public Act 101-0596
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| HB0745 Enrolled | LRB101 03379 AXK 48387 b |
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AN ACT concerning education.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is |
amended by changing Section 70 as follows:
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(110 ILCS 947/70)
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Sec. 70. Administration of scholarship and grant programs.
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(a) An applicant to whom the Commission has awarded a |
scholarship or
grant under this Act may apply for enrollment as |
a student in any
qualified institution of higher learning. The |
institution is not required to
accept the applicant for |
enrollment, but is free to exact compliance with its
own |
admissions requirements, standards, and policies. The |
institution may
receive the payments of tuition and other |
necessary fees provided by the
scholarship or grant, for credit |
against the student's obligation for such
tuition and fees, and |
for no other purpose, and shall be contractually
obligated:
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(1) to provide facilities and instruction to the |
student on the
same terms as to other students generally;
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(2) to provide the notices and information described in |
this Act; and
to maintain records and documents which |
demonstrate the eligibility of the
students for whom |
scholarships and grants are claimed.
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(b) If, in the course of any academic period, any student |
enrolled in
any institution pursuant to a scholarship or grant |
awarded under this Act
for any reason ceases to be a student in |
good standing, the institution shall
promptly give written |
notice to the Commission concerning that change of status
and |
the reason therefor. For purposes of this Section, a student |
does not cease
to be a student in good standing merely because |
he or she is not classified as
a full-time student.
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(c) A student to whom a renewal scholarship or grant has |
been awarded
may either re-enroll in the institution which he |
or she attended during the
preceding year, or enroll in any |
other qualified institution of higher
learning; and in either |
event, the institution accepting the student for
enrollment or |
re-enrollment shall notify the Commission of
that acceptance |
and may receive payments and shall be contractually
obligated |
as provided with respect to a first-year scholarship or grant.
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(d) The Commission shall administer the scholarship and |
grant accounts
and related records of each student who is |
attending an institution of
higher learning under financial |
assistance awarded pursuant to this Act,
and at each proper |
time shall certify to the State Comptroller, in the manner
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prescribed by law, the current payment to be made to the |
institution on account
of such financial assistance, in |
accordance with an appropriate certificate
from the |
institution. The Commission may require the participating |
institution
of higher learning to perform specific eligibility |
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evaluation procedures as a
condition of participation.
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(e) The Commission shall conduct on-site audits of |
educational
institutions participating in Commission |
administered programs. When
institutions have claimed and |
received funds on behalf of ineligible
recipients, the |
Commission may adjust subsequent institutional payments to
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recover those funds.
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(f) The Commission may, upon the request of any institution
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which
received payment for scholarship and grant awards for |
each of the last 5
years, certify to the Comptroller an advance |
payment for the current term
to be made to the institution on |
account of such financial assistance in an
amount not to exceed |
75% of announced awards for the institution for such
financial |
assistance for the current term, adjusted for attrition over |
the
last 5 years. For the purposes of this Section, "attrition" |
is the number
of announced award winners enrolled on the 10th |
class day as a percentage
of the total announced awards. The |
request for an advance payment for the
current term shall not |
be submitted until 10 class days after the last day
for |
registration for that term. Upon appropriate certification |
from the
institution presented for each payment period, after |
the standard tuition
and mandatory fees have been established |
for all students for the term of
payment and the award |
recipient has enrolled, the Commission shall certify
to the |
State Comptroller the balance of the current payment to be made |
to
the institution on account of such financial assistance. If |
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an advance
payment received by an institution exceeds the |
payment to which that
institution is entitled, the Commission |
shall reduce subsequent payments
to that institution for later |
terms within the same academic year as the
overpayment by an |
amount equal to the overpayment; if the reduction cannot
be |
made, the institution shall refund the overpayment to the |
Commission.
The Commission may deny or reduce the advance |
payment provided to any
institution under this Section if it |
has reason to believe that the advance
payment for the current |
term may exceed the full payment the institution is
entitled to |
receive for such assistance for that term.
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(g) The personal identity and address of a scholarship, |
grant, or other financial assistance applicant or recipient |
under a non-discretionary program administered by the |
Commission, including, but not limited to, the Monetary Award |
Program under Section 35 of this Act, where eligibility data is |
obtained from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid |
authorized by 20 U.S.C. 1090 or is protected from disclosure |
under federal or State law or under rules and regulations |
implementing federal or State law, is information that is |
intended to remain private and shall be exempt from inspection |
and copying under the Freedom of Information Act. This |
subsection does not apply to the publication of the names of |
State Scholars designated pursuant to Section 25 of this Act or |
information disclosed in the aggregate in which a person's |
identity cannot be determined. |