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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 7161
January Session, 2019
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
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 Substitute Bill No. 7161
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degree, (D) has completed the Free Application for Federal Student 19
Aid or an institutionally accepted financial aid application, (E) has an 20
expected family contribution for educational costs, as computed from 21
the student's Free Application for Federal Student Aid or 22
institutionally accepted financial aid application, of seven thousand 23
five hundred dollars or less, and (F) has accepted all available financial 24
aid; 25
(5) "Full-time undergraduate student" means a student who is 26
enrolled at a public institution of higher education in a course of study 27
leading to an associate or bachelor's degree and who is carrying (A) 28
twelve or more semester credit hours in a semester, or (B) thirty or 29
more semester credit hours in an academic year; and 30
(6) "Public institution of higher education" means the constituent 31
units of the state system of higher education identified in subdivisions 32
(1) and (2) of section 10a-1 of the general statutes. 33
(b) Before the start of the fall semester of 2020, the state, acting 34
through the Office of Higher Education, shall establish the Finish Line 35
Grant program to annually make awards to qualifying students for 36
eligible institutional costs. An award shall be available to a qualifying 37
student when the qualifying student has earned half of the credit hours 38
required for completion of the qualifying student's first associate or 39
bachelor's degree program, provided the qualifying student meets and 40
continues to meet the requirements of this section. 41
(c) Before the start of the fall semester of 2020, and each semester 42
thereafter, each public institution of higher education shall conduct a 43
financial and academic audit to determine the number of qualifying 44
students enrolled at the institution and the amount of the award to be 45
made to each qualifying student under this section. A public 46
institution of higher education shall not use an award to supplant any 47
state or institutional aid otherwise available to a qualifying student. 48
The amount of the annual appropriation to be allocated to each public 49
institution of higher education shall be the sum of all awards made to 50 Substitute Bill No. 7161
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qualifying students enrolled at the public institution of higher 51
education during each semester of the prior academic year. If the sum 52
of all awards made to qualifying students exceeds the amount of the 53
annual appropriation for the Finish Line Grant program in any year, 54
the Office of Higher Education shall prioritize allocations in 55
accordance with criteria developed by the office. Not later than 56
September first and February first, annually, each public institution of 57
higher education shall report the sum of all awards made to qualifying 58
students and the results from the financial and academic audit 59
conducted each semester to the Office of Higher Education. Each 60
public institution of higher education shall expend all of the moneys 61
received under the Finish Line Grant program as direct financial 62
assistance only for eligible institutional costs. 63
(d) Any qualifying student receiving an award under this section 64
shall participate in a volunteer-based mentorship and counseling 65
program, as prescribed by the Office of Higher Education. 66
(e) Not later than January 1, 2021, and annually thereafter, the Office 67
of Higher Education shall report, in accordance with the provisions of 68
section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing committees of 69
the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to higher 70
education and employment advancement and appropriations on the 71
Finish Line Grant program. 72
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2019 New section
HED Joint Favorable Subst.