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1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is
5amended by changing Section 65.100 as follows:
 
6    (110 ILCS 947/65.100)
7    (Section scheduled to be repealed on October 1, 2024)
8    Sec. 65.100. AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program.
9    (a) The General Assembly makes all of the following
10findings:
11        (1) Both access and affordability are important
12    aspects of the Illinois Public Agenda for College and
13    Career Success report.
14        (2) This State is in the top quartile with respect to
15    the percentage of family income needed to pay for college.
16        (3) Research suggests that as loan amounts increase,
17    rather than an increase in grant amounts, the probability
18    of college attendance decreases.
19        (4) There is further research indicating that
20    socioeconomic status may affect the willingness of
21    students to use loans to attend college.
22        (5) Strategic use of tuition discounting can decrease
23    the amount of loans that students must use to pay for

 

 

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1    tuition.
2        (6) A modest, individually tailored tuition discount
3    can make the difference in a student choosing to attend
4    college and enhance college access for low-income and
5    middle-income families.
6        (7) Even if the federally calculated financial need for
7    college attendance is met, the federally determined
8    Expected Family Contribution can still be a daunting
9    amount.
10        (8) This State is the second largest exporter of
11    students in the country.
12        (9) When talented Illinois students attend
13    universities in this State, the State and those
14    universities benefit.
15        (10) State universities in other states have adopted
16    pricing and incentives that allow many Illinois residents
17    to pay less to attend an out-of-state university than to
18    remain in this State for college.
19        (11) Supporting Illinois student attendance at
20    Illinois public universities can assist in State efforts to
21    maintain and educate a highly trained workforce.
22        (12) Modest tuition discounts that are individually
23    targeted and tailored can result in enhanced revenue for
24    public universities.
25        (13) By increasing a public university's capacity to
26    strategically use tuition discounting, the public

 

 

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1    university will be capable of creating enhanced tuition
2    revenue by increasing enrollment yields.
3    (b) In this Section:
4    "Eligible applicant" means a student from any high school
5in this State, whether or not recognized by the State Board of
6Education, who is engaged in a program of study that in due
7course will be completed by the end of the school year and who
8meets all of the qualifications and requirements under this
9Section.
10    "Tuition and other necessary fees" includes the customary
11charge for instruction and use of facilities in general and the
12additional fixed fees charged for specified purposes that are
13required generally of non-grant recipients for each academic
14period for which the grant applicant actually enrolls, but does
15not include fees payable only once or breakage fees and other
16contingent deposits that are refundable in whole or in part.
17The Commission may adopt, by rule not inconsistent with this
18Section, detailed provisions concerning the computation of
19tuition and other necessary fees.
20    (c) Beginning with the 2019-2020 academic year, each public
21university may establish a merit-based scholarship pilot
22program known as the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program. Each year,
23the Commission shall receive and consider applications from
24public universities under this Section. Subject to
25appropriation and any tuition waiver limitation established by
26the Board of Higher Education, a public university campus may

 

 

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1award a grant to a student under this Section if it finds that
2the applicant meets all of the following criteria:
3        (1) He or she is a resident of this State and a citizen
4    or eligible noncitizen of the United States.
5        (2) He or she files a Free Application for Federal
6    Student Aid and demonstrates financial need with a
7    household income no greater than 6 times the poverty
8    guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by
9    the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the
10    authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2).
11        (3) He or she meets the minimum cumulative grade point
12    average or ACT or SAT college admissions test score, as
13    determined by the public university campus.
14        (4) He or she is enrolled in a public university as an
15    undergraduate student on a full-time basis.
16        (5) He or she has not yet received a baccalaureate
17    degree or the equivalent of 135 semester credit hours.
18        (6) He or she is not incarcerated.
19        (7) He or she is not in default on any student loan or
20    does not owe a refund or repayment on any State or federal
21    grant or scholarship.
22        (8) Any other reasonable criteria, as determined by the
23    public university campus.
24    (d) Each public university campus shall determine grant
25renewal criteria consistent with the requirements under this
26Section.

 

 

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1    (e) Each participating public university campus shall post
2on its Internet website criteria and eligibility requirements
3for receiving awards that use funds under this Section that
4include a range in the sizes of these individual awards. The
5criteria and amounts must also be reported to the Commission
6and the Board of Higher Education, who shall post the
7information on their respective Internet websites.
8    (f) After enactment of an appropriation for this Program,
9the Commission shall determine an allocation of funds to each
10public university in an amount proportionate to the number of
11undergraduate students who are residents of this State and
12citizens or eligible noncitizens of the United States and who
13were enrolled at each public university campus in the previous
14academic year. All applications must be made to the Commission
15on or before a date determined by the Commission and on forms
16that the Commission shall provide to each public university
17campus. The form of the application and the information
18required shall be determined by the Commission and shall
19include, without limitation, the total public university
20campus funds used to match funds received from the Commission
21in the previous academic year under this Section, if any, the
22total enrollment of undergraduate students who are residents of
23this State from the previous academic year, and any supporting
24documents as the Commission deems necessary. Each public
25university campus shall match the amount of funds received by
26the Commission with financial aid for eligible students.

 

 

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1    A public university campus is not required to claim its
2entire allocation. The Commission shall make available to all
3public universities, on a date determined by the Commission,
4any unclaimed funds and the funds must be made available to
5those public university campuses in the proportion determined
6under this subsection (f), excluding from the calculation those
7public university campuses not claiming their full
8allocations.
9    Each public university campus may determine the award
10amounts for eligible students on an individual or broad basis,
11but, subject to renewal eligibility, each renewed award may not
12be less than the amount awarded to the eligible student in his
13or her first year attending the public university campus.
14Notwithstanding this limitation, a renewal grant may be reduced
15due to changes in the student's cost of attendance, including,
16but not limited to, if a student reduces the number of credit
17hours in which he or she is enrolled, but remains a full-time
18student, or switches to a course of study with a lower tuition
19rate.
20    An eligible applicant awarded grant assistance under this
21Section is eligible to receive other financial aid. Total grant
22aid to the student from all sources may not exceed the total
23cost of attendance at the public university campus.
24    (g) All money allocated to a public university campus under
25this Section may be used only for financial aid purposes for
26students attending the public university campus during the

 

 

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1academic year, not including summer terms. Notwithstanding any
2other provision of law to the contrary, any funds received by a
3public university campus under this Section that are not
4granted to students in the academic year for which the funds
5are received may be retained by the public university campus
6for expenditure on students participating in the Program or
7students eligible to participate in the Program.
8    (h) Each public university campus that establishes a
9Program under this Section must annually report to the
10Commission, on or before a date determined by the Commission,
11the number of undergraduate students enrolled at that campus
12who are residents of this State.
13    (i) Each public university campus must report to the
14Commission the total non-loan financial aid amount given by the
15public university campus to undergraduate students in the
162017-2018 academic year, not including the summer term in
17fiscal year 2018. To be eligible to receive funds under the
18Program, a public university campus may not decrease the total
19amount of non-loan financial aid it gives to for undergraduate
20students, not including any funds received from the Commission
21under this Section or any funds used to match grant awards
22under this Section, to an amount lower than the reported amount
23for the 2017-2018 academic year, not including the summer term
24total non-loan financial aid amount given by the public
25university campus to undergraduate students in fiscal year
262018, not including any funds received from the Commission

 

 

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1under this Section or any funds used to match grant awards
2under this Section.
3    (j) On or before a date determined by the Commission, each
4public university campus that participates in the Program under
5this Section shall annually submit a report to the Commission
6with all of the following information:
7        (1) The Program's impact on tuition revenue and
8    enrollment goals and increase in access and affordability
9    at the public university campus.
10        (2) Total funds received by the public university
11    campus under the Program.
12        (3) Total non-loan financial aid awarded to
13    undergraduate students attending the public university
14    campus.
15        (4) Total amount of funds matched by the public
16    university campus.
17        (5) Total amount of claimed and unexpended funds
18    retained by the public university campus.
19        (6) The percentage of total financial aid distributed
20    under the Program by the public university campus.
21        (7) The total number of students receiving grants from
22    the public university campus under the Program and those
23    students' grade level, race, gender, income level, family
24    size, Monetary Award Program eligibility, Pell Grant
25    eligibility, and zip code of residence and the amount of
26    each grant award. This information shall include unit

 

 

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1    record data on those students regarding variables
2    associated with the parameters of the public university's
3    Program, including, but not limited to, a student's ACT or
4    SAT college admissions test score, high school or
5    university cumulative grade point average, or program of
6    study.
7    On or before October 1, 2020 and annually on or before
8October 1 thereafter, the Commission shall submit a report with
9the findings under this subsection (j) and any other
10information regarding the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program to (i)
11the Governor, (ii) the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
12(iii) the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, (iv)
13the President of the Senate, and (v) the Minority Leader of the
14Senate. The reports to the General Assembly shall be filed with
15the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of
16the Senate in electronic form only, in the manner that the
17Clerk and the Secretary shall direct. The Commission's report
18may not disaggregate data to a level that may disclose
19personally identifying information of individual students.
20    The sharing and reporting of student data under this
21subsection (j) must be in accordance with the requirements
22under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of
231974 and the Illinois School Student Records Act. All parties
24must preserve the confidentiality of the information as
25required by law. The names of the grant recipients under this
26Section are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of

 

 

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1Information Act.
2    Public university campuses that fail to submit a report
3under this subsection (j) or that fail to adhere to any other
4requirements under this Section may not be eligible for
5distribution of funds under the Program for the next academic
6year, but may be eligible for distribution of funds for each
7academic year thereafter.
8    (k) The Commission shall adopt rules to implement this
9Section.
10    (l) This Section is repealed on October 1, 2024.
11(Source: P.A. 100-587, eff. 6-4-18; 100-1015, eff. 8-21-18;
12100-1183, eff. 4-4-19; 101-81, eff. 7-12-19.)
 
13    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect June 1,
142020.