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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7    (Section scheduled to be repealed on October 1, 2024)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
7    for 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
21    to 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
12the additional fixed fees charged for specified purposes that
13are required generally of non-grant recipients for each
14academic period for which the grant applicant actually
15enrolls, but does not include fees payable only once or
16breakage fees and other contingent deposits that are
17refundable in whole or in part. The Commission may adopt, by
18rule not inconsistent with this Section, detailed provisions
19concerning the computation of tuition and other necessary
20fees.
21    (c) Beginning with the 2019-2020 academic year, each
22public university may establish a merit-based scholarship
23pilot program known as the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program. Each
24year, the Commission shall receive and consider applications
25from public universities under this Section. Each
26participating public university shall indicate that grants

 

 

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1under the program come from AIM HIGH and shall use the words
2"AIM HIGH" in the name of any grant under the program and in
3any published or posted materials about the program. Subject
4to appropriation and any tuition waiver limitation established
5by the Board of Higher Education, a public university campus
6may award a grant to a student under this Section if it finds
7that the applicant meets all of the following criteria:
8        (1) He or she is a resident of this State and a citizen
9    or eligible noncitizen of the United States.
10        (2) He or she files a Free Application for Federal
11    Student Aid and demonstrates financial need with a
12    household income no greater than 6 times the poverty
13    guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by
14    the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the
15    authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2). The household income of
16    the applicant at the time of initial application shall be
17    deemed to be the household income of the applicant for the
18    duration of the pilot program.
19        (3) He or she meets the minimum cumulative grade point
20    average or ACT or SAT college admissions test score, as
21    determined by the public university campus.
22        (4) He or she is enrolled in a public university as an
23    undergraduate student on a full-time basis.
24        (5) He or she has not yet received a baccalaureate
25    degree or the equivalent of 135 semester credit hours.
26        (6) He or she is not incarcerated.

 

 

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1        (7) He or she is not in default on any student loan or
2    does not owe a refund or repayment on any State or federal
3    grant or scholarship.
4        (8) Any other reasonable criteria, as determined by
5    the public university campus.
6    Each public university campus shall allow qualified
7full-time undergraduate students to apply for a grant, but may
8choose to allow qualified part-time undergraduate students who
9are enrolling in their final semester at the public university
10campus to also apply.
11    (d) Each public university campus shall determine grant
12renewal criteria consistent with the requirements under this
13Section.
14    (e) Each participating public university campus shall post
15on its Internet website criteria and eligibility requirements
16for receiving awards that use funds under this Section that
17include a range in the sizes of these individual awards. The
18criteria and amounts must also be reported to the Commission
19and the Board of Higher Education, who shall post the
20information on their respective Internet websites.
21    (f) After enactment of an appropriation for this Program,
22the Commission shall determine an allocation of funds to each
23public university in an amount proportionate to the number of
24undergraduate students who are residents of this State and
25citizens or eligible noncitizens of the United States and who
26were enrolled at each public university campus in the previous

 

 

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1academic year. All applications must be made to the Commission
2on or before a date determined by the Commission and on forms
3that the Commission shall provide to each public university
4campus. The form of the application and the information
5required shall be determined by the Commission and shall
6include, without limitation, the total public university
7campus funds used to match funds received from the Commission
8in the previous academic year under this Section, if any, the
9total enrollment of undergraduate students who are residents
10of this State from the previous academic year, and any
11supporting documents as the Commission deems necessary. Each
12public university campus shall match the amount of funds
13received by the Commission with financial aid for eligible
14students.
15    A public university in which an average of at least 49% of
16the students seeking a bachelor's degree or certificate
17received a Pell Grant over the prior 3 academic years, as
18reported to the Commission, shall match 35% 20% of the amount
19of funds awarded in a given academic year with non-loan
20financial aid for eligible students. A public university in
21which an average of less than 49% of the students seeking a
22bachelor's degree or certificate received a Pell Grant over
23the prior 3 academic years, as reported to the Commission,
24shall match 70% 60% of the amount of funds awarded in a given
25academic year with non-loan financial aid for eligible
26students.

 

 

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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
7those public 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
12not be less than the amount awarded to the eligible student in
13his or her first year attending the public university campus.
14Notwithstanding this limitation, a renewal grant may be
15reduced due to changes in the student's cost of attendance,
16including, but not limited to, if a student reduces the number
17of credit hours in which he or she is enrolled, but remains a
18full-time student, or switches to a course of study with a
19lower tuition rate.
20    An eligible applicant awarded grant assistance under this
21Section is eligible to receive other financial aid. Total
22grant aid to the student from all sources may not exceed the
23total cost of attendance at the public university campus.
24    (g) All money allocated to a public university campus
25under this Section may be used only for financial aid purposes
26for students 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
15the public university campus to undergraduate students in the
162017-2018 academic year or the 2021-2022 academic year, not
17including the summer terms term. To be eligible to receive
18funds under the Program, a public university campus may not
19decrease the total amount of non-loan financial aid it gives
20to undergraduate students, not including any funds received
21from the Commission under this Section or any funds used to
22match grant awards under this Section, to an amount lower than
23the reported amount reported under this subsection (i) for the
242017-2018 academic year or the 2021-2022 academic year,
25whichever is less, not including the summer terms term.
26    (j) On or before a date determined by the Commission, each

 

 

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1public university campus that participates in the Program
2under this Section shall annually submit a report to the
3Commission with all of the following information:
4        (1) The Program's impact on tuition revenue and
5    enrollment goals and increase in access and affordability
6    at the public university campus.
7        (2) Total funds received by the public university
8    campus under the Program.
9        (3) Total non-loan financial aid awarded to
10    undergraduate students attending the public university
11    campus.
12        (4) Total amount of funds matched by the public
13    university campus.
14        (5) Total amount of claimed and unexpended funds
15    retained by the public university campus.
16        (6) The percentage of total financial aid distributed
17    under the Program by the public university campus.
18        (7) The total number of students receiving grants from
19    the public university campus under the Program and those
20    students' grade level, race, gender, income level, family
21    size, Monetary Award Program eligibility, Pell Grant
22    eligibility, and zip code of residence and the amount of
23    each grant award. This information shall include unit
24    record data on those students regarding variables
25    associated with the parameters of the public university's
26    Program, including, but not limited to, a student's ACT or

 

 

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1    SAT college admissions test score, high school or
2    university cumulative grade point average, or program of
3    study.
4    On or before October 1, 2020 and annually on or before
5October 1 through 2024 thereafter, the Commission shall submit
6a report with the findings under this subsection (j) and any
7other information regarding the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program
8to (i) the Governor, (ii) the Speaker of the House of
9Representatives, (iii) the Minority Leader of the House of
10Representatives, (iv) the President of the Senate, and (v) the
11Minority Leader of the Senate. The reports to the General
12Assembly shall be filed with the Clerk of the House of
13Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate in electronic
14form only, in the manner that the Clerk and the Secretary shall
15direct. The Commission's report may not disaggregate data to a
16level that may disclose personally identifying information of
17individual students.
18    The sharing and reporting of student data under this
19subsection (j) must be in accordance with the requirements
20under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of
211974 and the Illinois School Student Records Act. All parties
22must preserve the confidentiality of the information as
23required by law. The names of the grant recipients under this
24Section are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of
25Information Act.
26    Public university campuses that fail to submit a report

 

 

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1under this subsection (j) or that fail to adhere to any other
2requirements under this Section may not be eligible for
3distribution of funds under the Program for the next academic
4year, but may be eligible for distribution of funds for each
5academic year thereafter.
6    (k) The Commission shall adopt rules to implement this
7Section.
8    (l) (Blank). This Section is repealed on October 1, 2024.
9(Source: P.A. 100-587, eff. 6-4-18; 100-1015, eff. 8-21-18;
10100-1183, eff. 4-4-19; 101-81, eff. 7-12-19; 101-613, eff.
116-1-20; 101-643, eff. 6-18-20; 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)
 
12    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
13becoming law.