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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7161
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4331
Referred to Committee on HIGHER EDUCATION AND
EMPLOYMENT ADVANCEMENT
Introduced by:
(HED)
AN ACT ESTABLISHING FINISH LINE GRANTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2019) (a) For the purposes of this 1
section: 2
(1) "Award" means (A) the unpaid portion, if any, of a qualifying 3
student's eligible institutional costs after subtracting his or her 4
financial aid, or (B) five hundred dollars, whichever is greater; 5
(2) "Eligible institutional costs" means the tuition and required fees 6
for an individual student that are published by each public institution 7
of higher education; 8
(3) "Financial aid" means the sum of all scholarships, grants and 9
federal, state and institutional aid received by a qualifying student. 10
"Financial aid" does not include any federal, state or private student 11
loans received by a qualifying student; 12
(4) "Qualifying student" means any person who (A) is a full-time 13
undergraduate student enrolled at a public institution of higher 14 Raised Bill No. 7161
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education, (B) is classified as an in-state student pursuant to section 15
10a-29 of the general statutes, (C) possesses an undergraduate college 16
cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 and has earned half of 17
the credit hours required for completion of an associate or bachelor's 18
degree, (D) has completed the Free Application for Federal Student 19
Aid, (E) has an expected family contribution for educational costs, as 20
computed from the student's Free Application for Federal Student Aid, 21
of seven thousand five hundred dollars or less, and (F) has accepted all 22
available financial aid; 23
(5) "Full-time undergraduate student" means a student who is 24
enrolled at a public institution of higher education in a course of study 25
leading to an associate or bachelor's degree and who is carrying (A) 26
twelve or more semester credit hours in a semester, or (B) thirty or 27
more semester credit hours in an academic year; and 28
(6) "Public institution of higher education" means the constituent 29
units of the state system of higher education identified in subdivisions 30
(1) and (2) of section 10a-1 of the general statutes. 31
(b) On or before the start of the fall semester of 2019, the state, acting 32
through the Office of Higher Education, shall establish the Finish Line 33
Grant program to annually make awards to qualifying students for 34
eligible institutional costs. An award shall be available to a qualifying 35
student when the qualifying student has earned half of the credit hours 36
required for completion of the qualifying student's first associate or 37
bachelor's degree program, provided the qualifying student meets and 38
continues to meet the requirements of this section. 39
(c) On or before the start of the fall semester of 2019, and each 40
semester thereafter, each public institution of higher education shall 41
conduct a financial and academic audit to determine the number of 42
qualifying students enrolled at the institution and the amount of the 43
award to be made to each qualifying student under this section. A 44
public institution of higher education shall not use an award to 45
supplant any state or institutional aid otherwise available to a 46 Raised Bill No. 7161
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qualifying student. The amount of the annual appropriation to be 47
allocated to each public institution of higher education shall be the 48
sum of all awards made to qualifying students enrolled at the public 49
institution of higher education during each semester of the prior 50
academic year. If the sum of all awards made to qualifying students 51
exceeds the amount of the annual appropriation for the Finish Line 52
Grant program in any year, the Office of Higher Education shall 53
prioritize allocations in accordance with criteria developed by the 54
office. Not later than September first and February first, annually, each 55
public institution of higher education shall report the sum of all 56
awards made to qualifying students and the results from the financial 57
and academic audit conducted each semester to the Office of Higher 58
Education. Each public institution of higher education shall expend all 59
of the moneys received under the Finish Line Grant program as direct 60
financial assistance only for eligible institutional costs. 61
(d) Any qualifying student receiving an award under this section 62
shall participate in a volunteer-based mentorship and counseling 63
program, as prescribed by the Office of Higher Education. 64
(e) Not later than January 1, 2020, and annually thereafter, the Office 65
of Higher Education shall report, in accordance with the provisions of 66
section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing committees of 67
the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to higher 68
education and employment advancement and appropriations on the 69
Finish Line Grant program. 70
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2019 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To allow undergraduate students at public institutions of higher
education to finish earning their degrees without student loans.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]