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1 | | AN ACT concerning education.
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2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | | Section 5. The Higher Education Veterans Service Act is |
5 | | amended by changing Section 15 as follows: |
6 | | (110 ILCS 49/15)
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7 | | Sec. 15. Survey; coordinator; best practices report; best |
8 | | efforts.
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9 | | (a) All public colleges and universities shall, within 60 |
10 | | days after the effective date of this Act, conduct a survey of |
11 | | the services and programs that are provided for veterans, |
12 | | active duty military personnel, and their families, at each of |
13 | | their respective campuses. This survey shall enumerate and |
14 | | fully describe the service or program that is available, the |
15 | | number of veterans or active duty personnel using the service |
16 | | or program, an estimated range for potential use within a |
17 | | 5-year and 10-year period, information on the location of the |
18 | | service or program, and how its administrators may be |
19 | | contacted. The survey shall indicate the manner or manners in |
20 | | which a student veteran may avail himself or herself of the |
21 | | program's services. This survey must be made available to all |
22 | | veterans matriculating at the college or university in the form |
23 | | of an orientation-related guidebook. |
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1 | | Each public college and university shall make the survey |
2 | | and guidebook available on the homepage of the all campus |
3 | | website or veteran Internet links as soon as practical after |
4 | | the completion of the survey . Each As soon as possible after |
5 | | the completion of the survey, each public college and |
6 | | university shall provide a copy of its survey to the following: |
7 | | (1) the Board of Higher Education; |
8 | | (2) the Department of Veterans' Affairs; |
9 | | (3) the President and Minority Leader of the Senate and |
10 | | the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of |
11 | | Representatives; and |
12 | | (4) the Governor , Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of |
13 | | State, State Treasurer, and State Comptroller . |
14 | | (b) Each public college and university shall, at its |
15 | | discretion, (i) appoint, within 6 months after the effective |
16 | | date of this Act, an existing employee or (ii) hire a new |
17 | | employee to serve as a Coordinator of Veterans and Military |
18 | | Personnel Student Services on each campus of the college or |
19 | | university that has an onsite, daily, full-time student |
20 | | headcount above 1,000 students. Each public college and |
21 | | university shall make its best efforts to hire a veteran of the |
22 | | armed services as the Coordinator of Veterans and Military |
23 | | Personnel Student Services. |
24 | | The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student |
25 | | Services shall be an ombudsperson serving the specific needs of |
26 | | student veterans and military personnel and their families and |
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1 | | shall serve as an advocate before the administration of the |
2 | | college or university for the needs of student veterans. The |
3 | | college or university shall enable the Coordinator of Veterans |
4 | | and Military Personnel Student Services to communicate |
5 | | directly with the senior executive administration of the |
6 | | college or university periodically. The college or university |
7 | | shall retain unfettered discretion to determine the |
8 | | organizational management structure of its institution. |
9 | | In addition to any responsibilities the college or |
10 | | university may assign, the Coordinator of Veterans and Military |
11 | | Personnel Student Services shall make its best efforts to |
12 | | create a centralized source for student veterans and military |
13 | | personnel to learn how to receive all benefit programs and |
14 | | services for which they are eligible. |
15 | | Each college and university campus that is required to have |
16 | | a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student |
17 | | Services shall regularly and conspicuously advertise the |
18 | | office location, phone number, and Internet access to the |
19 | | Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student |
20 | | Services, along with a brief summary of the manner in which he |
21 | | or she can assist student veterans. The advertisement shall |
22 | | include, but is not necessarily limited to, the following: |
23 | | (1) advertisements on each campus' Internet home page; |
24 | | and |
25 | | (2) any promotional mailings for student application. |
26 | | The Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student |
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1 | | Services shall facilitate other campus offices with the |
2 | | promotion of programs and services that are available. |
3 | | (c) Upon receipt of all of the surveys under subsection (a) |
4 | | of this Section, the Board of Higher Education and the |
5 | | Department of Veterans' Affairs shall conduct a joint review of |
6 | | the surveys and post, on any Internet home page they may |
7 | | operate, a link to each survey as posted on the Internet |
8 | | website for the college or university. Upon receipt of all of |
9 | | the surveys, the Office of the Governor, through its military |
10 | | affairs advisors, shall similarly conduct a review of the |
11 | | surveys and post the surveys on its Internet website. Following |
12 | | its review of the surveys, the Office of the Governor shall |
13 | | submit an evaluation report to each college and university |
14 | | offering suggestions and insight on the conduct of student |
15 | | veteran-related policies and programs. |
16 | | (d) The Board of Higher Education and the Department of |
17 | | Veterans' Affairs may issue a best practices report to |
18 | | highlight those programs and services that are most beneficial |
19 | | to veterans and active duty military personnel. The report |
20 | | shall contain a fiscal needs assessment in conjunction with any |
21 | | program recommendations. |
22 | | (e) Each college and university campus that is required to |
23 | | have a Coordinator of Veterans and Military Personnel Student |
24 | | Services under subsection (b) of this Section shall make its |
25 | | best efforts to create academic and social programs and |
26 | | services for veterans and active duty military personnel that |
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1 | | will provide reasonable opportunities for academic performance |
2 | | and success. |
3 | | Each public college and university shall make its best |
4 | | efforts to determine how its online educational curricula can |
5 | | be expanded or altered to serve the needs of student veterans |
6 | | and currently-deployed military, including a determination of |
7 | | whether and to what extent the public colleges and universities |
8 | | can share existing technologies to improve the online curricula |
9 | | of peer institutions, provided such efforts are both |
10 | | practically and economically feasible.
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11 | | (Source: P.A. 96-133, eff. 8-7-09.)
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