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| 1 | AN ACT concerning education. | ||||||
| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | ||||||
| 3 | represented in the General Assembly: | ||||||
| 4 | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | ||||||
| 5 | Scholarship Accessibility Act. | ||||||
| 6 | Section 5. Illinois Scholarship Database. | ||||||
| 7 | (a) The Illinois Scholarship Database is established. The | ||||||
| 8 | Illinois Student Assistance Commission shall develop, | ||||||
| 9 | implement, and administer the Database. | ||||||
| 10 | (b) The Database shall be both a website and an | ||||||
| 11 | application so that the Database is publicly accessible and | ||||||
| 12 | easy to use. | ||||||
| 13 | (c) The purpose of the Database is to be a utility to | ||||||
| 14 | improve Illinois students' access to higher education | ||||||
| 15 | scholarships, as well as to improve their knowledge of | ||||||
| 16 | scholarships. | ||||||
| 17 | (d) To inform students and their parents on what | ||||||
| 18 | scholarships are and how they are attained and maintained, all | ||||||
| 19 | of the following apply: | ||||||
| 20 | (1) Beginning in the 7th grade, a public school shall | ||||||
| 21 | inform students of the Database and shall require them to | ||||||
| 22 | create an account with the Database. The account may not | ||||||
| 23 | be under any administrative body that has access to or the | ||||||
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| 1 | ability to terminate the email used to register for the | ||||||
| 2 | account. | ||||||
| 3 | (2) To help consistently keep parents informed of the | ||||||
| 4 | importance of scholarships and financial aid, the account | ||||||
| 5 | shall be created jointly by the student and the parent, | ||||||
| 6 | with a clear indication of which user is the student and | ||||||
| 7 | which user is the parent. | ||||||
| 8 | (3) Both the student and the parent shall have access | ||||||
| 9 | to the account and the ability to manage activity on the | ||||||
| 10 | account. | ||||||
| 11 | (e) The Database shall allow the student to have and the | ||||||
| 12 | student is required to complete a profile that does both of the | ||||||
| 13 | following: | ||||||
| 14 | (1) Presents a portfolio of the student and who the | ||||||
| 15 | student is and the student's current year of enrollment. | ||||||
| 16 | This requirement shall be a part of the account-creation | ||||||
| 17 | process and may not be different for students of different | ||||||
| 18 | ages. | ||||||
| 19 | (2) Lists any criminal charge that requires the | ||||||
| 20 | student to be a part of a registry for a crime the student | ||||||
| 21 | has committed, unless the student is legally protected | ||||||
| 22 | under law or court order or another exigent circumstance. | ||||||
| 23 | This paragraph (2) does not apply to a student until the | ||||||
| 24 | student has finished high school. This paragraph (2) does | ||||||
| 25 | apply to a student who is considered to have failed high | ||||||
| 26 | school. | ||||||
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| 1 | Section 10. Database contents. | ||||||
| 2 | (a) The Database shall include and display a comprehensive | ||||||
| 3 | list of scholarships as follows: | ||||||
| 4 | (1) Entities or persons that offer higher education | ||||||
| 5 | scholarships shall be allowed to add their scholarships | ||||||
| 6 | and the requirements for those scholarships to the | ||||||
| 7 | Database if the requirements do not: | ||||||
| 8 | (A) offer a scholarship opportunity only at | ||||||
| 9 | particular higher education institutions without being | ||||||
| 10 | completely transparent as to which higher education | ||||||
| 11 | institutions the scholarship opportunity is offered | ||||||
| 12 | at; | ||||||
| 13 | (B) offer a scholarship opportunity without | ||||||
| 14 | showing all of the requirements to obtain the | ||||||
| 15 | scholarship opportunity; or | ||||||
| 16 | (C) have troublesome or absurd requirements that | ||||||
| 17 | are not appropriate for higher education institutions. | ||||||
| 18 | (2) More widely known scholarships from anywhere in | ||||||
| 19 | the country may be displayed if they are accessible to | ||||||
| 20 | students in this State. | ||||||
| 21 | (b) The Illinois Student Assistance Commission shall be | ||||||
| 22 | responsible for funding scholarship workshops that can be | ||||||
| 23 | viewed by all students and other events decided upon by the | ||||||
| 24 | Commission to help inform students and parents and make them | ||||||
| 25 | aware of scholarships. | ||||||
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| 1 | Section 15. Adult student access. | ||||||
| 2 | (a) Students 18 years of age or older shall also be able to | ||||||
| 3 | create an account with and have access to the Database. These | ||||||
| 4 | students shall be able to maintain an account without the | ||||||
| 5 | requirement of having a parent have access to the account. A | ||||||
| 6 | student who created an account prior to turning 18 may remove | ||||||
| 7 | the student's parent from the account after reaching the age | ||||||
| 8 | of 18. | ||||||
| 9 | (b) The requirements of subsection (e) of Section 5 shall | ||||||
| 10 | apply to an account created by a student 18 years of age or | ||||||
| 11 | older. | ||||||
| 12 | (c) The Database shall remain accessible to any student | ||||||
| 13 | who uses it, regardless of age. | ||||||