Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB0744
Illinois General Assembly

Previous General Assemblies

Full Text of HB0744  101st General Assembly

HB0744ham001 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Katie Stuart

Adopted in House on Oct 29, 2019

 

 


 

 


 
10100HB0744ham001LRB101 03380 NHT 64089 a

1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 744

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 744 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7    (Section scheduled to be repealed on October 1, 2024)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,

 

 

10100HB0744ham001- 2 -LRB101 03380 NHT 64089 a

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 for
14    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

 

 

10100HB0744ham001- 3 -LRB101 03380 NHT 64089 a

1    Illinois public universities can assist in State efforts to
2    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 the
19additional fixed fees charged for specified purposes that are
20required generally of non-grant recipients for each academic
21period for which the grant applicant actually enrolls, but does
22not include fees payable only once or breakage fees and other
23contingent deposits that are refundable in whole or in part.
24The Commission may adopt, by rule not inconsistent with this
25Section, detailed provisions concerning the computation of
26tuition and other necessary fees.

 

 

10100HB0744ham001- 4 -LRB101 03380 NHT 64089 a

1    (c) Beginning with the 2019-2020 academic year, each public
2university may establish a merit-based scholarship pilot
3program known as the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program. Each year,
4the Commission shall receive and consider applications from
5public universities under this Section. Subject to
6appropriation and any tuition waiver limitation established by
7the Board of Higher Education, a public university campus may
8award a grant to a student under this Section if it finds that
9the applicant meets all of the following criteria:
10        (1) He or she is a resident of this State and a citizen
11    or eligible noncitizen of the United States.
12        (2) He or she files a Free Application for Federal
13    Student Aid and demonstrates financial need with a
14    household income no greater than 6 times the poverty
15    guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by
16    the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the
17    authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2).
18        (3) He or she meets the minimum cumulative grade point
19    average or ACT or SAT college admissions test score, as
20    determined by the public university campus.
21        (4) He or she is enrolled in a public university as an
22    undergraduate student on a full-time basis.
23        (5) He or she has not yet received a baccalaureate
24    degree or the equivalent of 135 semester credit hours.
25        (6) He or she is not incarcerated.
26        (7) He or she is not in default on any student loan or

 

 

10100HB0744ham001- 5 -LRB101 03380 NHT 64089 a

1    does not owe a refund or repayment on any State or federal
2    grant or scholarship.
3        (8) Any other reasonable criteria, as determined by the
4    public university campus.
5    (d) Each public university campus shall determine grant
6renewal criteria consistent with the requirements under this
7Section.
8    (e) Each participating public university campus shall post
9on its Internet website criteria and eligibility requirements
10for receiving awards that use funds under this Section that
11include a range in the sizes of these individual awards. The
12criteria and amounts must also be reported to the Commission
13and the Board of Higher Education, who shall post the
14information on their respective Internet websites.
15    (f) After enactment of an appropriation for this Program,
16the Commission shall determine an allocation of funds to each
17public university in an amount proportionate to the number of
18undergraduate students who are residents of this State and
19citizens or eligible noncitizens of the United States and who
20were enrolled at each public university campus in the previous
21academic year. All applications must be made to the Commission
22on or before a date determined by the Commission and on forms
23that the Commission shall provide to each public university
24campus. The form of the application and the information
25required shall be determined by the Commission and shall
26include, without limitation, the total public university

 

 

10100HB0744ham001- 6 -LRB101 03380 NHT 64089 a

1campus funds used to match funds received from the Commission
2in the previous academic year under this Section, if any, the
3total enrollment of undergraduate students who are residents of
4this State from the previous academic year, and any supporting
5documents as the Commission deems necessary. Each public
6university campus shall match the amount of funds received by
7the Commission with financial aid for eligible students.
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 those
14public 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 not
19be less than the amount awarded to the eligible student in his
20or her first year attending the public university campus.
21Notwithstanding this limitation, a renewal grant may be reduced
22due to changes in the student's cost of attendance, including,
23but not limited to, if a student reduces the number of credit
24hours in which he or she is enrolled, but remains a full-time
25student, or switches to a course of study with a lower tuition
26rate.

 

 

10100HB0744ham001- 7 -LRB101 03380 NHT 64089 a

1    An eligible applicant awarded grant assistance under this
2Section is eligible to receive other financial aid. Total grant
3aid to the student from all sources may not exceed the total
4cost of attendance at the public university campus.
5    (g) All money allocated to a public university campus under
6this Section may be used only for financial aid purposes for
7students 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 the
22public university campus to undergraduate students in the
232017-2018 academic year, not including the summer term in
24fiscal year 2018. To be eligible to receive funds under the
25Program, a public university campus may not decrease the total
26amount of non-loan financial aid it gives to for undergraduate

 

 

10100HB0744ham001- 8 -LRB101 03380 NHT 64089 a

1students, not including any funds received from the Commission
2under this Section or any funds used to match grant awards
3under this Section, to an amount lower than the reported amount
4for the 2017-2018 academic year, not including the summer term
5total non-loan financial aid amount given by the public
6university campus to undergraduate students in fiscal year
72018, not including any funds received from the Commission
8under this Section or any funds used to match grant awards
9under this Section.
10    (j) On or before a date determined by the Commission, each
11public university campus that participates in the Program under
12this Section shall annually submit a report to the Commission
13with all of the following information:
14        (1) The Program's impact on tuition revenue and
15    enrollment goals and increase in access and affordability
16    at the public university campus.
17        (2) Total funds received by the public university
18    campus under the Program.
19        (3) Total non-loan financial aid awarded to
20    undergraduate students attending the public university
21    campus.
22        (4) Total amount of funds matched by the public
23    university campus.
24        (5) Total amount of claimed and unexpended funds
25    retained by the public university campus.
26        (6) The percentage of total financial aid distributed

 

 

10100HB0744ham001- 9 -LRB101 03380 NHT 64089 a

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

 

 

10100HB0744ham001- 10 -LRB101 03380 NHT 64089 a

1    The sharing and reporting of student data under this
2subsection (j) must be in accordance with the requirements
3under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of
41974 and the Illinois School Student Records Act. All parties
5must preserve the confidentiality of the information as
6required by law. The names of the grant recipients under this
7Section are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of
8Information Act.
9    Public university campuses that fail to submit a report
10under this subsection (j) or that fail to adhere to any other
11requirements under this Section may not be eligible for
12distribution of funds under the Program for the next academic
13year, but may be eligible for distribution of funds for each
14academic year thereafter.
15    (k) The Commission shall adopt rules to implement this
16Section.
17    (l) This Section is repealed on October 1, 2024.
18(Source: P.A. 100-587, eff. 6-4-18; 100-1015, eff. 8-21-18;
19100-1183, eff. 4-4-19; 101-81, eff. 7-12-19.)
 
20    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect June 1,
212020.".