815 ILCS 616/20

(815 ILCS 616/20)

Sec. 20. Prohibitions and requirements.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person or entity to act as an educational planning service provider unless it remains in compliance with this Act.

(b) An educational planning service provider may not provide educational planning services to a consumer for a fee without a written contract signed and dated by both the consumer and the educational planning service provider. A contract between an educational planning service provider and a consumer for the provision of educational planning services shall disclose clearly and conspicuously all of the following:

(1) The name and address of the consumer.

(2) The date of execution of the contract.

(3) The legal name of the educational planning service provider, including any other business names used by the educational planning service provider.

(4) The corporate address and regular business address, including a street address, of the educational planning service provider.

(5) The telephone number at which the consumer may speak with a representative of the educational planning service provider during normal business hours.

(6) A description of the services and an itemized list of all fees to be paid by the consumer for each service and the date, approximate date, or circumstances under which each fee will become due.

(7) The contents of the Consumer Notice and Rights Form provided in Section 25 of this Act.

(8) A written notice to the consumer that the consumer may cancel the contract at any time until after the educational planning service provider has fully performed each service the educational planning service provider contracted to perform or represented he or she would perform and that the consumer may not be required to pay for services the consumer did not receive and shall be entitled to a full refund of any fees paid for educational planning services not provided.

(9) A form the consumer may use to cancel the contract pursuant to this Act. The form shall include the name and mailing address of the educational planning service provider and shall disclose clearly and conspicuously how the consumer can cancel the contract, including applicable addresses, telephone numbers, facsimile numbers, and electronic mail addresses the consumer can use to cancel the contract. Notwithstanding any other provision of this paragraph (9) to the contrary, a consumer's lack of strict adherence to an educational planning service provider's cancellation form or processes does not invalidate a consumer's good faith and reasonable method or form of cancellation.

(c) If an educational planning service provider communicates with a consumer primarily in a language other than English, then the educational planning service provider shall furnish to the consumer a translation of all the disclosures and documents required by this Act, including, but not limited to, the contract, in that other language.

(d) An educational planning service provider may not charge or receive from a consumer any enrollment fee, set up fee, up-front fee of any kind, or maintenance fee, and a consumer shall pay only for the educational planning services provided.

(e) An educational planning service provider may not do any of the following:

(1) Represent, expressly or by implication, any results or outcomes of its educational planning services in any advertising, marketing, or other communication to consumers unless the educational planning service provider possesses substantiation for such representation at the time such representation is made.

(2) Expressly or by implication, make any unfair or deceptive representations or any omissions of material facts in any of its advertising or marketing communications concerning educational planning services.

(3) Advertise or market educational planning services, enter into a contract for educational planning services, or provide educational planning services without making the disclosures required in this Act at the times and in the form and manner as described in this Act.

(4) Advise about or represent, expressly or by implication, any unlawful services to be provided or fees to be collected by the educational planning service provider.

(5) Advise or represent, expressly or by implication, that consumers pay any fees that are unearned by the educational planning service provider.

(6) Advise, encourage, or represent, expressly or by implication, that a consumer provide false or misleading information about financial or other circumstances to gain admission into a higher education institution or to be eligible for student financial aid, including, but not limited to, advising a consumer to petition for the appointment of a guardian for a minor for the primary purpose of reducing the financial resources available to the minor in order to cause the minor to qualify for public or private financial aid.

(Source: P.A. 102-571, eff. 1-1-22; 103-475, eff. 1-1-24.)