Public Act 098-1100
 
SB2765 EnrolledLRB098 16668 NHT 51736 b


  
    AN ACT concerning education.
  
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:
  



  
 
    Section 5. The Eastern Illinois University Law is amended  
by changing Section 10-92 as follows:
 
    (110 ILCS 665/10-92)
    (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2019)
    Sec. 10-92. Tuition affordability discount waiver 
limitation pilot program.
    (a)  The General Assembly makes all of the following 
findings:
        (1)  Both access and affordability are important points 
    in the Illinois Public Agenda for College and Career 
    Success.
        (2)  This State is in the top quartile with respect to 
    the percentage of family income needed to pay for college.
        (3)  Research suggests that as loan amounts increase, 
    versus grants-in-aid, the probability of college 
    attendance decreases.
        (4)  There is further research indicating socioeconomic 
    status may affect the willingness of students to use loans 
    to attend college.
        (5)  Strategic use of tuition discounting waivers will 
    decrease the amount of loans that students must use to pay 
    for tuition.
        (6)  A modest, individually tailored tuition discount 
    waiver can make the difference in choosing to attend 
    college and would enhance college access for low (up to 
    150% of the federal poverty level) and middle income (151% 
    to 300% of the federal poverty level) families.
        (7)  Even if the federally calculated financial need for 
    college attendance is met, the federally determined 
    Expected Family Contribution can still be a daunting 
    amount.
        (8)  This State is the second largest exporter of 
    students in the country.
        (9)  Illinois students need to be kept in this State. 
    State universities in other states have adopted pricing and 
    incentives that make college expenses for residents of this 
    State less than in this State.
        (10)  A mechanism is needed to stop the outflow of 
    Illinois students to institutions in other states, 
    assisting in State efforts to maintain and educate a highly 
    trained workforce.
        (11) By being competitive on costs of attendance, this 
    State can bring out-of-state students to this State.
        (12)  The pilot program established under this Section 
    will allow Eastern Illinois University to compete for 
    highly qualified students who may reside in other states by 
    mitigating the effect of cost differences.
        (13)  Modest tuition discounts waivers, individually 
    targeted and tailored, result in enhanced revenue for 
    university programs.
        (14)  By increasing Eastern Illinois University's 
    capacity to strategically use tuition discounting waivers, 
    the University will be capable of creating enhanced tuition 
    revenue by increasing enrollment yields. 
        (15)  The Board of Higher Education's current 
    institutional tuition waiver limitation is 3% of total 
    available undergraduate tuition revenue.
    (b)  The Board shall establish a pilot program to increase 
the Board of Higher Education's institutional tuition waiver 
limitation for the university over a 4-year period to increase 
access to college and make college more affordable for 
undergraduate students.  Under the pilot program, the 
institutional tuition waiver limitation shall be increased by 2 
percentage points in the 2012-2013 academic year, 2 percentage 
points in the 2013-2014 academic year, 2 percentage points in 
the 2014-2015 academic year, and one percentage point in the 
2015-2016 academic year, resulting in an institutional tuition 
waiver limitation of 10% in the fourth year of the pilot 
program and thereafter.
    (c)  The pilot program shall require that students who 
receive a tuition discount waiver under the pilot program be 
accepted to the university through normal admissions standards 
and processes. Individual tuition discounts waivers granted 
under the pilot program must not exceed $2,500 per academic 
year.  The pilot program shall provide a maximum of one discount 
waiver per academic year for a maximum of 4 years to each 
student in the pilot program who maintains satisfactory 
academic progress. The pilot program shall be terminated after 
the 2018-2019 2015-2016 academic year, with no new students 
receiving discounts waivers.  However, notwithstanding the 
Board of Higher Education's institutional tuition waiver 
limitation, existing students receiving discounts waivers 
under the pilot program are eligible to maintain those 
discounts waivers, with satisfactory academic progress, under 
the 4-year limitation, after the 2018-2019 2015-2016 academic 
year due to maintenance of effort within their 4-year window. 
Sunset dates for discounted waiver support shall be based upon 
the first academic year in which a student receives a discount 
waiver. The sunset dates are as follows for each annual cohort 
of pilot program participants:
        (1)  Cohort 1:  the beginning year is 2012-2013 and the 
    terminal year is 2015-2016.
        (2)  Cohort 2:  the beginning year is 2013-2014 and the 
    terminal year is 2016-2017.
        (3)  Cohort 3:  the beginning year is 2014-2015 and the  
    terminal year is 2017-2018.
        (4)  Cohort 4:  the beginning year is 2015-2016 and the 
    terminal year   is 2018-2019.
    (d) Every 2 years, the  The Board shall annually report to 
the Board of Higher Education on the pilot program's impact on 
tuition revenue, enrollment goals, and increasing access and 
affordability on such dates as the Board of Higher Education 
shall determine.
    (e)  The Board of Higher Education may adopt any rules that 
are necessary to implement this Section.
    (f)  This Section is repealed on July 1, 2022 2019. 

(Source: P.A. 97-290, eff. 8-10-11.)