Full Text of HB3947 98th General Assembly
HB3947ham001 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY | Rep. Laura Fine Filed: 3/14/2014
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| 1 | | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3947
| 2 | | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3947 by replacing | 3 | | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
| 4 | | "Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is | 5 | | amended by adding Section 65.90 as follows: | 6 | | (110 ILCS 947/65.90 new) | 7 | | Sec. 65.90. Smarter Illinois and Retaining Talent Tuition | 8 | | Program. | 9 | | (a) It is the intent of the legislature that the pilot | 10 | | program created under this Section
continue for at least 5 | 11 | | years. The Commission shall seek funding
for the pilot program | 12 | | from private and public sources. The
legislature shall | 13 | | appropriate money from these sources and from the General | 14 | | Revenue Fund
in each State fiscal year that the pilot program | 15 | | continues in an amount sufficient to
operate the pilot program. | 16 | | However, money from the Education Assistance Fund
must not be |
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| 1 | | appropriated for the pilot program. | 2 | | (b) In this Section: | 3 | | "Adjusted gross income" means "adjusted gross income" as | 4 | | defined in
Section 62 of the federal Internal Revenue Code (26 | 5 | | U.S.C. 62). | 6 | | "Community college" means a public community college | 7 | | located in this State. | 8 | | "Participant" means a student selected by the Commission
to | 9 | | participate in the pilot program. | 10 | | "Pilot program" means the Smarter Illinois and Retaining
| 11 | | Talent Tuition Program created in this Section. | 12 | | "Public university" means a public university located in | 13 | | this State. | 14 | | "Tuition" means the quarter or semester charges imposed to
| 15 | | attend a community college or public university and all | 16 | | mandatory
fees required as a condition of enrollment, as | 17 | | determined by the
Commission. | 18 | | "Weighted average tuition cost of community colleges"
| 19 | | means the tuition cost arrived at by adding the products of the
| 20 | | annual tuition cost at each community college and its total | 21 | | number
of fiscal-year-equated students, then dividing the | 22 | | gross total of
this cumulation by the total number of | 23 | | fiscal-year-equated students
attending community colleges. | 24 | | "Weighted average tuition cost of public universities"
| 25 | | means the tuition cost arrived at by adding the products of the
| 26 | | annual tuition cost at each public university and its total |
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| 1 | | number
of fiscal-year-equated students, then dividing the | 2 | | gross total of
this cumulation by the total number of | 3 | | fiscal-year-equated students
attending public universities. | 4 | | (c) The Commission shall create and implement a tuition | 5 | | grant
pilot program, to be known as the Smarter Illinois and | 6 | | Retaining
Talent Tuition Program, that pays certain tuition | 7 | | costs of
participating community college and public university | 8 | | students in
exchange for those students' agreement to pay this | 9 | | State a certain
percentage of their future income. All of the | 10 | | following apply to
this pilot program: | 11 | | (1) The Commission shall select 100 students who are | 12 | | enrolled
in a public university in a science, technology, | 13 | | engineering, or mathematics field of study and 100 students | 14 | | who are enrolled in a community college in a science, | 15 | | technology, engineering, or mathematics field of study to | 16 | | participate in the pilot program. | 17 | | (2) A student enrolled in a community college or public
| 18 | | university may submit an application to the Commission to
| 19 | | participate in the pilot program if he or she is a resident | 20 | | of this
State, as determined by the community college or | 21 | | public university.
The Commission shall select the | 22 | | participants in the pilot program
from among those | 23 | | applicants. If there are more than 100 applicants
to | 24 | | participate in the pilot program as community college | 25 | | students
or more than 100 applicants to participate in the | 26 | | pilot program as
public university students, the |
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| 1 | | Commission shall select the
participants from among the | 2 | | applicants using a random selection
process. | 3 | | (3) A student is not eligible to participate in the | 4 | | pilot
program if the adjusted gross income of the student | 5 | | and his or her
immediate family is $250,000 or more. | 6 | | (4) Each participant shall enter into a written | 7 | | agreement that
provides that, in exchange for payment on | 8 | | his or her behalf of an
amount equal to the weighted | 9 | | average tuition cost to the public
university or community | 10 | | college in which he or she is enrolled, he
or she agrees to | 11 | | pay the Commission a percentage of his or her
future | 12 | | earnings. The participant's payment obligation under this
| 13 | | subdivision (4) shall meet the requirements of subsection | 14 | | (d) of this Section. | 15 | | (5) For an academic year, the amount of a grant to a
| 16 | | participant shall not exceed the weighted average tuition | 17 | | cost of
community colleges if the participant is enrolled | 18 | | in a community
college or the weighted average tuition cost | 19 | | of public
universities if the participant is enrolled in a | 20 | | public university. | 21 | | (6) The Commission may not award a grant in more than 3
| 22 | | consecutive academic years if the participant is enrolled | 23 | | in a
community college or 5 consecutive academic years if | 24 | | the
participant is enrolled in a public university. | 25 | | (7) After completion of the first full academic year in | 26 | | which
he or she participates in the pilot program, a |
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| 1 | | participant is
ineligible to receive additional grants if | 2 | | he or she fails to
maintain a cumulative grade point | 3 | | average of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale or its equivalent at | 4 | | the community college or public university in which he or | 5 | | she is
enrolled and that failure continues for more than | 6 | | one term or
semester. | 7 | | (8) It is the intent of the legislature that the | 8 | | Commission's
administrative costs in connection with the | 9 | | pilot program not
exceed 1%. | 10 | | (d) In each calendar year for which a participant in the | 11 | | pilot
program has a payment obligation described in subdivision | 12 | | (4) of subsection (c) of this Section,
the participant shall | 13 | | pay the Commission an amount equal to 2% of
his or her adjusted | 14 | | gross income for that year if he or she
attended a community | 15 | | college or 4% of his or her adjusted gross
income for that year | 16 | | if he or she attended a public university. The
participant's | 17 | | payment obligation begins in the first calendar year
in which | 18 | | he or she obtains employment after he or she graduated
from or | 19 | | stopped attending the community college or public
university in | 20 | | which he or she was enrolled and his or her adjusted
gross | 21 | | income from that employment in that year exceeds the poverty | 22 | | guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the | 23 | | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the | 24 | | authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2). The payment obligation | 25 | | continues for the following
consecutive number of years, as | 26 | | applicable: |
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| 1 | | (1) If tuition payments were made on behalf of the | 2 | | participant
by the Commission for one academic year at the | 3 | | community college or
public university, 5 years of | 4 | | payments. | 5 | | (2) If tuition payments were made on behalf of the | 6 | | participant
by the Commission for 2 academic years at the | 7 | | community college or
public university, 10 years of | 8 | | payments. | 9 | | (3) If tuition payments were made on behalf of the | 10 | | participant
by the Commission for 3 academic years at the | 11 | | community college or
public university, 15 years of | 12 | | payments. | 13 | | (4) If tuition payments were made on behalf of the | 14 | | participant
by the Commission for 4 academic years at the | 15 | | public university, 20
years of payments. | 16 | | (5) If tuition payments were made on behalf of the | 17 | | participant
by the Commission for 5 academic years at the | 18 | | public university, 25
years of payments. | 19 | | (e) On or before the start of each State fiscal year, | 20 | | beginning with the 2016 fiscal year, the Commission shall | 21 | | submit to the
Governor, the General Assembly, and the Financial | 22 | | Aid Restructuring Committee
established in subsection (f) of | 23 | | this Section a report concerning the implementation of the | 24 | | pilot program in the preceding State fiscal
year. The report | 25 | | shall include all of the following for the
preceding State | 26 | | fiscal year: |
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| 1 | | (1) The number of participants who were enrolled in | 2 | | community
colleges and, for those participants, the number | 3 | | that continued in
the pilot program; the number that | 4 | | dropped out of the pilot
program; the number that dropped | 5 | | out of a community college; and
the number that graduated | 6 | | from a community college. | 7 | | (2) The number of participants who were enrolled in | 8 | | public
universities and, for those participants, the | 9 | | number that continued
in the pilot program; the number that | 10 | | dropped out of the pilot
program; the number that dropped | 11 | | out of a public university; and
the number that graduated | 12 | | from a public university. | 13 | | (3) An analysis of the payments described in | 14 | | subdivision (4) of subsection (c) of this Section that the | 15 | | Commission had received from participants, including, but
| 16 | | not limited to, how many payments were made on time, how | 17 | | many
payments were late, how much each recipient had | 18 | | received from the
Commission under this Section, and how | 19 | | much each participant had
repaid to the Commission. | 20 | | (4) The number of participants who had found | 21 | | employment. | 22 | | (5) The number of students who were then unemployed. | 23 | | (6) A general summary of the pilot program, including, | 24 | | but not
limited to, how much the Commission had paid on | 25 | | behalf of
participants, the total amount repaid to the | 26 | | Commission by
participants, and a projection of future |
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| 1 | | payments the Commission
estimated it would receive from | 2 | | participants. | 3 | | (f) The Financial Aid Restructuring Committee is | 4 | | established
within the Commission. All of the following apply | 5 | | to the committee: | 6 | | (1) The committee shall consist of all of the following | 7 | | members: | 8 | | (A) Five voting members who are residents of this | 9 | | State and are
appointed by the Governor, as follows: | 10 | | (i) One individual representing public | 11 | | universities. | 12 | | (ii) One individual representing community | 13 | | colleges. | 14 | | (iii) One individual selected from one or more | 15 | | individuals
nominated by the President of the | 16 | | Senate. | 17 | | (iv) One individual selected from one or more | 18 | | individuals
nominated by the Speaker of the House | 19 | | of Representatives. | 20 | | (v) One individual representing the public. | 21 | | (B) The Executive Director of the Commission or his | 22 | | or her designee, who is a
nonvoting member of the | 23 | | committee and shall serve as chairperson of the
| 24 | | committee. | 25 | | (2) The term of office of the appointed members is 2 | 26 | | years and
until a successor is appointed and has qualified. |
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| 1 | | A member may be
removed in the manner provided for by law | 2 | | for removal of public
officers. A vacancy must be filled | 3 | | for the unexpired term in the
same manner as the original | 4 | | appointment. | 5 | | (3) The committee shall conduct its activities in | 6 | | compliance
with the Open Meetings Act. The committee shall | 7 | | give public notice of the time, date, and place of meetings | 8 | | of the committee in the manner required by the Open
| 9 | | Meetings Act. | 10 | | (4) The committee shall make any writing prepared, | 11 | | owned,
used, in the possession of, or retained by the | 12 | | committee in the
performance of an official function | 13 | | available to the public in
compliance with the Freedom of | 14 | | Information Act. | 15 | | (5) The committee shall analyze the report described in
| 16 | | subsection (e) of this Section and, within 6 months after | 17 | | receiving the report, shall
make recommendations to the | 18 | | Governor and General Assembly concerning the
long-term | 19 | | viability of a financial aid program similar in structure
| 20 | | to the pilot program.
| 21 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, | 22 | | 2014.".
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