Rep. Katie Stuart

Filed: 5/11/2023

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 301

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 301 by replacing
3everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
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7    (Section scheduled to be repealed on October 1, 2024)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,

 

 

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1    rather than an increase in grant amounts, the probability
2    of college attendance decreases.
3        (4) There is further research indicating that
4    socioeconomic status may affect the willingness of
5    students to use loans to attend college.
6        (5) Strategic use of tuition discounting can decrease
7    the amount of loans that students must use to pay for
8    tuition.
9        (6) A modest, individually tailored tuition discount
10    can make the difference in a student choosing to attend
11    college and enhance college access for low-income and
12    middle-income families.
13        (7) Even if the federally calculated financial need
14    for college attendance is met, the federally determined
15    Expected Family Contribution can still be a daunting
16    amount.
17        (8) This State is the second largest exporter of
18    students in the country.
19        (9) When talented Illinois students attend
20    universities in this State, the State and those
21    universities benefit.
22        (10) State universities in other states have adopted
23    pricing and incentives that allow many Illinois residents
24    to pay less to attend an out-of-state university than to
25    remain in this State for college.
26        (11) Supporting Illinois student attendance at

 

 

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1    Illinois public universities can assist in State efforts
2    to maintain and educate a highly trained workforce.
3        (12) Modest tuition discounts that are individually
4    targeted and tailored can result in enhanced revenue for
5    public universities.
6        (13) By increasing a public university's capacity to
7    strategically use tuition discounting, the public
8    university will be capable of creating enhanced tuition
9    revenue by increasing enrollment yields.
10    (b) In this Section:
11    "Eligible applicant" means a student from any high school
12in this State, whether or not recognized by the State Board of
13Education, who is engaged in a program of study that in due
14course will be completed by the end of the school year and who
15meets all of the qualifications and requirements under this
16Section.
17    "Tuition and other necessary fees" includes the customary
18charge for instruction and use of facilities in general and
19the additional fixed fees charged for specified purposes that
20are required generally of non-grant recipients for each
21academic period for which the grant applicant actually
22enrolls, but does not include fees payable only once or
23breakage fees and other contingent deposits that are
24refundable in whole or in part. The Commission may adopt, by
25rule not inconsistent with this Section, detailed provisions
26concerning the computation of tuition and other necessary

 

 

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1fees.
2    (c) Beginning with the 2019-2020 academic year, each
3public university may establish a merit-based scholarship
4pilot program known as the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program. Each
5year, the Commission shall receive and consider applications
6from public universities under this Section. Each
7participating public university shall indicate that grants
8under the program come from AIM HIGH and shall use the words
9"AIM HIGH" in the name of any grant under the program and in
10any published or posted materials about the program. Subject
11to appropriation and any tuition waiver limitation established
12by the Board of Higher Education, a public university campus
13may award a grant to a student under this Section if it finds
14that the applicant meets all of the following criteria:
15        (1) He or she is a resident of this State and a citizen
16    or eligible noncitizen of the United States.
17        (2) He or she files a Free Application for Federal
18    Student Aid and demonstrates financial need with a
19    household income no greater than 6 times the poverty
20    guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by
21    the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the
22    authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2). The household income of
23    the applicant at the time of initial application shall be
24    deemed to be the household income of the applicant for the
25    duration of the pilot program.
26        (3) He or she meets the minimum cumulative grade point

 

 

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1    average or ACT or SAT college admissions test score, as
2    determined by the public university campus.
3        (4) He or she is enrolled in a public university as an
4    undergraduate student on a full-time basis.
5        (5) He or she has not yet received a baccalaureate
6    degree or the equivalent of 135 semester credit hours.
7        (6) He or she is not incarcerated.
8        (7) He or she is not in default on any student loan or
9    does not owe a refund or repayment on any State or federal
10    grant or scholarship.
11        (8) Any other reasonable criteria, as determined by
12    the public university campus.
13    Each public university campus shall allow qualified
14full-time undergraduate students to apply for a grant, but may
15choose to allow qualified part-time undergraduate students who
16are enrolling in their final semester at the public university
17campus to also apply.
18    (d) Each public university campus shall determine grant
19renewal criteria consistent with the requirements under this
20Section.
21    (e) Each participating public university campus shall post
22on its Internet website criteria and eligibility requirements
23for receiving awards that use funds under this Section that
24include a range in the sizes of these individual awards. The
25criteria and amounts must also be reported to the Commission
26and the Board of Higher Education, who shall post the

 

 

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

 

 

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1financial aid for eligible students. A public university in
2which an average of less than 49% of the students seeking a
3bachelor's degree or certificate received a Pell Grant over
4the prior 3 academic years, as reported to the Commission,
5shall match 70% 60% of the amount of funds awarded in a given
6academic year with non-loan financial aid for eligible
7students.
8    A public university campus is not required to claim its
9entire allocation. The Commission shall make available to all
10public universities, on a date determined by the Commission,
11any unclaimed funds and the funds must be made available to
12those public university campuses in the proportion determined
13under this subsection (f), excluding from the calculation
14those public university campuses not claiming their full
15allocations.
16    Each public university campus may determine the award
17amounts for eligible students on an individual or broad basis,
18but, subject to renewal eligibility, each renewed award may
19not be less than the amount awarded to the eligible student in
20his or her first year attending the public university campus.
21Notwithstanding this limitation, a renewal grant may be
22reduced due to changes in the student's cost of attendance,
23including, but not limited to, if a student reduces the number
24of credit hours in which he or she is enrolled, but remains a
25full-time student, or switches to a course of study with a
26lower tuition rate.

 

 

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1    An eligible applicant awarded grant assistance under this
2Section is eligible to receive other financial aid. Total
3grant aid to the student from all sources may not exceed the
4total cost of attendance at the public university campus.
5    (g) All money allocated to a public university campus
6under this Section may be used only for financial aid purposes
7for students attending the public university campus during the
8academic year, not including summer terms. Notwithstanding any
9other provision of law to the contrary, any funds received by a
10public university campus under this Section that are not
11granted to students in the academic year for which the funds
12are received may be retained by the public university campus
13for expenditure on students participating in the Program or
14students eligible to participate in the Program.
15    (h) Each public university campus that establishes a
16Program under this Section must annually report to the
17Commission, on or before a date determined by the Commission,
18the number of undergraduate students enrolled at that campus
19who are residents of this State.
20    (i) Each public university campus must report to the
21Commission the total non-loan financial aid amount given by
22the public university campus to undergraduate students in the
232017-2018 academic year or the 2021-2022 academic year, not
24including the summer terms term. To be eligible to receive
25funds under the Program, a public university campus may not
26decrease the total amount of non-loan financial aid it gives

 

 

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1to undergraduate students, not including any funds received
2from the Commission under this Section or any funds used to
3match grant awards under this Section, to an amount lower than
4the reported amount reported under this subsection (i) for the
52017-2018 academic year or the 2021-2022 academic year,
6whichever is less, not including the summer terms term.
7    (j) On or before a date determined by the Commission, each
8public university campus that participates in the Program
9under this Section shall annually submit a report to the
10Commission with all of the following information:
11        (1) The Program's impact on tuition revenue and
12    enrollment goals and increase in access and affordability
13    at the public university campus.
14        (2) Total funds received by the public university
15    campus under the Program.
16        (3) Total non-loan financial aid awarded to
17    undergraduate students attending the public university
18    campus.
19        (4) Total amount of funds matched by the public
20    university campus.
21        (5) Total amount of claimed and unexpended funds
22    retained by the public university campus.
23        (6) The percentage of total financial aid distributed
24    under the Program by the public university campus.
25        (7) The total number of students receiving grants from
26    the public university campus under the Program and those

 

 

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1    students' grade level, race, gender, income level, family
2    size, Monetary Award Program eligibility, Pell Grant
3    eligibility, and zip code of residence and the amount of
4    each grant award. This information shall include unit
5    record data on those students regarding variables
6    associated with the parameters of the public university's
7    Program, including, but not limited to, a student's ACT or
8    SAT college admissions test score, high school or
9    university cumulative grade point average, or program of
10    study.
11    On or before October 1, 2020 and annually on or before
12October 1 through 2024 thereafter, the Commission shall submit
13a report with the findings under this subsection (j) and any
14other information regarding the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program
15to (i) the Governor, (ii) the Speaker of the House of
16Representatives, (iii) the Minority Leader of the House of
17Representatives, (iv) the President of the Senate, and (v) the
18Minority Leader of the Senate. The reports to the General
19Assembly shall be filed with the Clerk of the House of
20Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate in electronic
21form only, in the manner that the Clerk and the Secretary shall
22direct. The Commission's report may not disaggregate data to a
23level that may disclose personally identifying information of
24individual students.
25    The sharing and reporting of student data under this
26subsection (j) must be in accordance with the requirements

 

 

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1under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of
21974 and the Illinois School Student Records Act. All parties
3must preserve the confidentiality of the information as
4required by law. The names of the grant recipients under this
5Section are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of
6Information Act.
7    Public university campuses that fail to submit a report
8under this subsection (j) or that fail to adhere to any other
9requirements under this Section may not be eligible for
10distribution of funds under the Program for the next academic
11year, but may be eligible for distribution of funds for each
12academic year thereafter.
13    (k) The Commission shall adopt rules to implement this
14Section.
15    (l) (Blank). This Section is repealed on October 1, 2024.
16(Source: P.A. 100-587, eff. 6-4-18; 100-1015, eff. 8-21-18;
17100-1183, eff. 4-4-19; 101-81, eff. 7-12-19; 101-613, eff.
186-1-20; 101-643, eff. 6-18-20; 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)
 
19    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
20becoming law.".