Bill Text: IL HB2466 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act. Removes a provision specifically excluding academic programs for incarcerated students from the definition of "institution of higher learning", "qualified institution", and "institution". In provisions concerning the AIM HIGH Grant Program, removes the grant eligibility requirement that an applicant not be incarcerated.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-18 - Added Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Dagmara Avelar [HB2466 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HB2466-Introduced.html

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 HB2466 Introduced , by Rep. Carol Ammons SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
110 ILCS 947/10
110 ILCS 947/65.100
Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act. Removes a provision specifically excluding academic programs for incarcerated students from the definition of "institution of higher learning", "qualified institution", and "institution". In provisions concerning the AIM HIGH Grant Program, removes the grant eligibility requirement that an applicant not be incarcerated.
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A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is
amended by changing Sections 10 and 65.100 as follows:
(110 ILCS 947/10)
Sec. 10. Definitions. In this Act, and except to the
extent that any of the following words or phrases is
specifically qualified by its context:
"Commission" means the Illinois Student Assistance
Commission created by this Act.
"Enrollment" means the establishment and maintenance of an
individual's status as a student in an institution of higher
learning, regardless of the terms used at the institution to
describe that status.
"Approved high school" means any public high school
located in this State; and any high school, located in this
State or elsewhere (whether designated as a high school,
secondary school, academy, preparatory school, or otherwise)
which in the judgment of the State Superintendent of Education
provides a course of instruction at the secondary level and
maintains standards of instruction substantially equivalent to
those of the public high schools located in this State.

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"Institution of higher learning", "qualified institution",
or "institution" means an educational organization located in
this State which
(1) provides at least an organized 2 year program of
collegiate grade in the liberal arts or sciences, or both,
directly applicable toward the attainment of a
baccalaureate degree or a program in health education
directly applicable toward the attainment of a
certificate, diploma, or an associate degree;
(2) either is
(A) operated by this State, or
(B) operated publicly or privately, not for
profit, or
(C) operated for profit, provided such for profit
organization
(i) offers degree programs which have been
approved by the Board of Higher Education for a
minimum of 3 years under the Academic Degree Act,
and
(ii) enrolls a majority of its students in
such degree programs, and
(iii) maintains an accredited status with the
Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of
the North Central Association of Colleges and
Schools;
(3) in the judgment of the Commission meets standards

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substantially equivalent to those of comparable
institutions operated by this State; and
(4) if so required by the Commission, uses the State
as its primary guarantor of student loans made under the
federal Higher Education Act of 1965.
For otherwise eligible educational organizations which provide
academic programs for incarcerated students, the terms
"institution of higher learning", "qualified institutions",
and "institution" shall specifically exclude academic programs
for incarcerated students.
"Academic year" means a 12 month period of time, normally
but not exclusively, from September 1 of any year through
August 31 of the ensuing year.
"Full-time student" means any undergraduate student
enrolled in 12 or more semester or quarter hours of credit
courses in any given semester or quarter or in the equivalent
number of units of registration as determined by the
Commission.
"Part-time student" means any undergraduate student, other
than a full-time student, enrolled in 6 or more semester or
quarter hours of credit courses in any given semester or
quarter or in the equivalent number of units of registration
as determined by the Commission. Beginning with fiscal year
1999, the Commission may, on a program by program basis,
expand this definition of "part-time student" to include
students who enroll in less than 6 semester or quarter hours of

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credit courses in any given semester or quarter.
"Public university" means any public 4-year university in
this State.
"Public university campus" means any campus under the
governance or supervision of a public university.
(Source: P.A. 100-587, eff. 6-4-18; 100-1015, eff. 8-21-18.)
(110 ILCS 947/65.100)
Sec. 65.100. AIM HIGH Grant Program.
(a) The General Assembly makes all of the following
findings:
(1) Both access and affordability are important
aspects of the Illinois Public Agenda for College and
Career Success report.
(2) This State is in the top quartile with respect to
the percentage of family income needed to pay for college.
(3) Research suggests that as loan amounts increase,
rather than an increase in grant amounts, the probability
of college attendance decreases.
(4) There is further research indicating that
socioeconomic status may affect the willingness of
students to use loans to attend college.
(5) Strategic use of tuition discounting can decrease
the amount of loans that students must use to pay for
tuition.
(6) A modest, individually tailored tuition discount

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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
university will be capable of creating enhanced tuition
revenue by increasing enrollment yields.

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(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
program known as the AIM HIGH Grant Program. Each year, the
Commission shall receive and consider applications from public
universities under this Section. Each participating public
university shall indicate that grants 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

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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 8 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 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) (Blank). He or she is not incarcerated.
(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

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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
academic year. All applications must be made to the Commission
on or before a date determined by the Commission and on forms

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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% 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%
of the amount of funds awarded in a given academic year with
non-loan financial aid for eligible students.
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,

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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
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

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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. 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
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.
(j) On or before a date determined by the Commission, each
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:

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(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
SAT college admissions test score, high school or
university cumulative grade point average, or program of
study.

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On or before October 1, 2020 and annually on or before
October 1 through 2024, the Commission shall submit a report
with the findings under this subsection (j) and any other
information regarding the AIM HIGH Grant 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
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

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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).
(Source: P.A. 103-8, eff. 6-7-23; 103-516, eff. 8-11-23;
103-605, eff. 7-1-24.)