Bill Text: IL SB1309 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Board of Higher Education Act. Requires the Board of Higher Education to establish a uniform admission process online, which must be used at all public institutions of higher education beginning with the 2021-2022 academic year; sets forth what components this admission process must include. Effective July 1, 2019.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2021-01-13 - Session Sine Die [SB1309 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-SB1309-Introduced.html

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101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2019 and 2020 SB1309 Introduced 2/7/2019, by Sen. Chapin Rose SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
110 ILCS 205/9.07a new
Amends the Board of Higher Education Act. Requires the Board of Higher Education to establish a uniform admission process online, which must be used at all public institutions of higher education beginning with the 2021-2022 academic year; sets forth what components this admission process must include. Effective July 1, 2019.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT
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 Board of Higher Education Act is amended by
adding Section 9.07a as follows:
(110 ILCS 205/9.07a new)
Sec. 9.07a. Uniform admission process. The Board shall
establish a uniform admission process online, which must be
used at all public institutions of higher education beginning
with the 2021-2022 academic year. The goal of this uniform
admission process program is to ensure that no matter which
institution an applicant initially applies to, if that
institution denies the applicant acceptance, then the
applicant may be offered admission to another public
institution of higher education. This admission process must
include the following components:
(1) The Board shall create a uniform admission
application known as the "Universal App", to be accepted at
all public institutions of higher education. The Board
shall make the Universal App available online on the
Board's website. The Board shall inform all high schools in
this State of the availability of the Universal App online,
and high school personnel shall provide this information to

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students and their parents or guardian. Each high school
shall allow a student, with the help of high school
personnel, to complete the Universal App during school
hours if the student's parent or guardian has not chosen to
opt the student out of using school hours for that purpose.
Universal App data must be sent to all public universities.
An applicant who is not offered admission to a public
university must be automatically referred to the community
college district where the applicant resides and provided
with enrollment information from that district.
(2) If a public institution of higher education accepts
a person for admission to the institution, the person shall
receive a letter of acceptance from the institution, which
shall set forth any grant or scholarship offers extended by
the institution at that time. However, nothing shall
prevent the institution from subsequently enhancing such
grant or scholarship offers to the person.
(3) The process must be integrated so that an applicant
may choose which public institutions of higher education
will receive his or her application and may rank the
institutions in order of his or her preference of
attendance. The process must also be integrated so that an
applicant may choose to indicate that if he or she is not
offered admittance to any of his or her indicated public
institutions of choice, the Board may forward his or her
academic information to all other public institutions of

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higher education. Public institutions of higher education
may choose to admit the student based upon the
institution's criteria and shall notify the student of his
or her admittance. The Board shall also forward the
Universal App to the community college district where the
applicant resides.
(4) The Board may charge an applicant an application
fee of no more than $25 for completing a Universal App
under this Section. This fee may be paid by credit card or
a check payable to the Board of Higher Education and shall
be deposited into the Universal App Fund, which is hereby
created as a nonappropriated trust fund to be held outside
the State treasury, with the State Treasurer as custodian.
Money in the Fund shall be used only for operation costs
relating to the Universal App. Any excess money in the Fund
not used by the Board for operation costs shall be
distributed by the Board to public institutions of higher
education.
(5) All admission decisions shall be made by each
public institution of higher education, not the Board.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1,
2019.