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tuition. |
(6) A modest, individually tailored tuition discount |
can make the difference in a student choosing to attend |
college and enhance college access for low-income and |
middle-income families. |
(7) Even if the federally calculated financial need |
for college attendance is met, the federally determined |
Expected Family Contribution can still be a daunting |
amount. |
(8) This State is the second largest exporter of |
students in the country. |
(9) When talented Illinois students attend |
universities in this State, the State and those |
universities benefit. |
(10) State universities in other states have adopted |
pricing and incentives that allow many Illinois residents |
to pay less to attend an out-of-state university than to |
remain in this State for college. |
(11) Supporting Illinois student attendance at |
Illinois public universities can assist in State efforts |
to maintain and educate a highly trained workforce. |
(12) Modest tuition discounts that are individually |
targeted and tailored can result in enhanced revenue for |
public universities. |
(13) By increasing a public university's capacity to |
strategically use tuition discounting, the public |
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university will be capable of creating enhanced tuition |
revenue by increasing enrollment yields. |
(b) In this Section: |
"Eligible applicant" means a student from any high school |
in this State, whether or not recognized by the State Board of |
Education, who is engaged in a program of study that in due |
course will be completed by the end of the school year and who |
meets all of the qualifications and requirements under this |
Section. |
"Tuition and other necessary fees" includes the customary |
charge for instruction and use of facilities in general and |
the additional fixed fees charged for specified purposes that |
are required generally of non-grant recipients for each |
academic period for which the grant applicant actually |
enrolls, but does not include fees payable only once or |
breakage fees and other contingent deposits that are |
refundable in whole or in part. The Commission may adopt, by |
rule not inconsistent with this Section, detailed provisions |
concerning the computation of tuition and other necessary |
fees. |
(c) Beginning with the 2019-2020 academic year, each |
public university may establish a merit-based scholarship |
pilot program known as the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program. Each |
year, the Commission shall receive and consider applications |
from public universities under this Section. Each |
participating public university shall indicate that grants |
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under the program come from AIM HIGH and shall use the words |
"AIM HIGH" in the name of any grant under the program and in |
any published or posted materials about the program. Subject |
to appropriation and any tuition waiver limitation established |
by the Board of Higher Education, a public university campus |
may award a grant to a student under this Section if it finds |
that the applicant meets all of the following criteria: |
(1) He or she is a resident of this State and a citizen |
or eligible noncitizen of the United States. |
(2) He or she files a Free Application for Federal |
Student Aid and demonstrates financial need with a |
household income no greater than 6 times the poverty |
guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by |
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the |
authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2). The household income of |
the applicant at the time of initial application shall be |
deemed to be the household income of the applicant for the |
duration of the pilot program. |
(3) He or she meets the minimum cumulative grade point |
average or ACT or SAT college admissions test score, as |
determined by the public university campus. |
(4) He or she is enrolled in a public university as an |
undergraduate student on a full-time basis. |
(5) He or she has not yet received a baccalaureate |
degree or the equivalent of 135 semester credit hours. |
(6) He or she is not incarcerated. |
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(7) He or she is not in default on any student loan or |
does not owe a refund or repayment on any State or federal |
grant or scholarship. |
(8) Any other reasonable criteria, as determined by |
the public university campus. |
Each public university campus shall allow qualified |
full-time undergraduate students to apply for a grant, but may |
choose to allow qualified part-time undergraduate students who |
are enrolling in their final semester at the public university |
campus to also apply. |
(d) Each public university campus shall determine grant |
renewal criteria consistent with the requirements under this |
Section. |
(e) Each participating public university campus shall post |
on its Internet website criteria and eligibility requirements |
for receiving awards that use funds under this Section that |
include a range in the sizes of these individual awards. The |
criteria and amounts must also be reported to the Commission |
and the Board of Higher Education, who shall post the |
information on their respective Internet websites. |
(f) After enactment of an appropriation for this Program, |
the Commission shall determine an allocation of funds to each |
public university in an amount proportionate to the number of |
undergraduate students who are residents of this State and |
citizens or eligible noncitizens of the United States and who |
were enrolled at each public university campus in the previous |
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academic year. All applications must be made to the Commission |
on or before a date determined by the Commission and on forms |
that the Commission shall provide to each public university |
campus. The form of the application and the information |
required shall be determined by the Commission and shall |
include, without limitation, the total public university |
campus funds used to match funds received from the Commission |
in the previous academic year under this Section, if any, the |
total enrollment of undergraduate students who are residents |
of this State from the previous academic year, and any |
supporting documents as the Commission deems necessary. Each |
public university campus shall match the amount of funds |
received by the Commission with financial aid for eligible |
students. |
A public university in which an average of at least 49% of |
the students seeking a bachelor's degree or certificate |
received a Pell Grant over the prior 3 academic years, as |
reported to the Commission, shall match 35% 20% of the amount |
of funds awarded in a given academic year with non-loan |
financial aid for eligible students. A public university in |
which an average of less than 49% of the students seeking a |
bachelor's degree or certificate received a Pell Grant over |
the prior 3 academic years, as reported to the Commission, |
shall match 70% 60% of the amount of funds awarded in a given |
academic year with non-loan financial aid for eligible |
students. |
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A public university campus is not required to claim its |
entire allocation. The Commission shall make available to all |
public universities, on a date determined by the Commission, |
any unclaimed funds and the funds must be made available to |
those public university campuses in the proportion determined |
under this subsection (f), excluding from the calculation |
those public university campuses not claiming their full |
allocations. |
Each public university campus may determine the award |
amounts for eligible students on an individual or broad basis, |
but, subject to renewal eligibility, each renewed award may |
not be less than the amount awarded to the eligible student in |
his or her first year attending the public university campus. |
Notwithstanding this limitation, a renewal grant may be |
reduced due to changes in the student's cost of attendance, |
including, but not limited to, if a student reduces the number |
of credit hours in which he or she is enrolled, but remains a |
full-time student, or switches to a course of study with a |
lower tuition rate. |
An eligible applicant awarded grant assistance under this |
Section is eligible to receive other financial aid. Total |
grant aid to the student from all sources may not exceed the |
total cost of attendance at the public university campus. |
(g) All money allocated to a public university campus |
under this Section may be used only for financial aid purposes |
for students attending the public university campus during the |
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academic year, not including summer terms. Notwithstanding any |
other provision of law to the contrary, any funds received by a |
public university campus under this Section that are not |
granted to students in the academic year for which the funds |
are received may be retained by the public university campus |
for expenditure on students participating in the Program or |
students eligible to participate in the Program. |
(h) Each public university campus that establishes a |
Program under this Section must annually report to the |
Commission, on or before a date determined by the Commission, |
the number of undergraduate students enrolled at that campus |
who are residents of this State. |
(i) Each public university campus must report to the |
Commission the total non-loan financial aid amount given by |
the public university campus to undergraduate students in the |
2017-2018 academic year or the 2021-2022 academic year, not |
including the summer terms term. To be eligible to receive |
funds under the Program, a public university campus may not |
decrease the total amount of non-loan financial aid it gives |
to undergraduate students, not including any funds received |
from the Commission under this Section or any funds used to |
match grant awards under this Section, to an amount lower than |
the reported amount reported under this subsection (i) for the |
2017-2018 academic year or the 2021-2022 academic year, |
whichever is less, not including the summer terms term. |
(j) On or before a date determined by the Commission, each |
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public university campus that participates in the Program |
under this Section shall annually submit a report to the |
Commission with all of the following information: |
(1) The Program's impact on tuition revenue and |
enrollment goals and increase in access and affordability |
at the public university campus. |
(2) Total funds received by the public university |
campus under the Program. |
(3) Total non-loan financial aid awarded to |
undergraduate students attending the public university |
campus. |
(4) Total amount of funds matched by the public |
university campus. |
(5) Total amount of claimed and unexpended funds |
retained by the public university campus. |
(6) The percentage of total financial aid distributed |
under the Program by the public university campus. |
(7) The total number of students receiving grants from |
the public university campus under the Program and those |
students' grade level, race, gender, income level, family |
size, Monetary Award Program eligibility, Pell Grant |
eligibility, and zip code of residence and the amount of |
each grant award. This information shall include unit |
record data on those students regarding variables |
associated with the parameters of the public university's |
Program, including, but not limited to, a student's ACT or |
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SAT college admissions test score, high school or |
university cumulative grade point average, or program of |
study. |
On or before October 1, 2020 and annually on or before |
October 1 through 2024 thereafter, the Commission shall submit |
a report with the findings under this subsection (j) and any |
other information regarding the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program |
to (i) the Governor, (ii) the Speaker of the House of |
Representatives, (iii) the Minority Leader of the House of |
Representatives, (iv) the President of the Senate, and (v) the |
Minority Leader of the Senate. The reports to the General |
Assembly shall be filed with the Clerk of the House of |
Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate in electronic |
form only, in the manner that the Clerk and the Secretary shall |
direct. The Commission's report may not disaggregate data to a |
level that may disclose personally identifying information of |
individual students. |
The sharing and reporting of student data under this |
subsection (j) must be in accordance with the requirements |
under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of |
1974 and the Illinois School Student Records Act. All parties |
must preserve the confidentiality of the information as |
required by law. The names of the grant recipients under this |
Section are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of |
Information Act. |
Public university campuses that fail to submit a report |
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under this subsection (j) or that fail to adhere to any other |
requirements under this Section may not be eligible for |
distribution of funds under the Program for the next academic |
year, but may be eligible for distribution of funds for each |
academic year thereafter. |
(k) The Commission shall adopt rules to implement this |
Section. |
(l) (Blank). This Section is repealed on October 1, 2024.
|
(Source: P.A. 100-587, eff. 6-4-18; 100-1015, eff. 8-21-18; |
100-1183, eff. 4-4-19; 101-81, eff. 7-12-19; 101-613, eff. |
6-1-20; 101-643, eff. 6-18-20; 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)
|
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
becoming law.
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