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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 5
January Session, 2025
AN ACT CONCERNING HIGHER EDUCATION AFFORDABILITY AND
ACCOUNTABILITY.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 10a-173 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2025): 2
(a) For the purposes of this section: 3
[(1) "Family contribution" means the expected family contribution for 4
educational costs as computed from a student's Free Application for 5
Federal Student Aid;] 6
[(2)] (1) "Student aid index" means the index used to determine 7
eligibility for financial aid as computed from a student's Free 8
Application for Federal Student Aid; 9
[(3)] (2) "Eligible student" means a student who is (A) a resident of 10
the state, (B) enrolled at an institution of higher education in a course of 11
study leading to such student's first associate or bachelor's degree, and 12
(C) carrying, for a full-time student, twelve or more semester credit 13
hours, or, for a part-time student, between six and eleven semester 14
credit hours at such institution of higher education; 15
[(4)] (3) "Independent institution of higher education" means a 16 Substitute Bill No. 5
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nonprofit institution established in this state (A) that has degree-17
granting authority in this state; (B) that has its main campus located in 18
this state; (C) that is not included in the Connecticut system of public 19
higher education; and (D) whose primary function is not the preparation 20
of students for religious vocation; 21
[(5)] (4) "Public institution of higher education" means the constituent 22
units of the state system of higher education identified in subdivisions 23
(1) and (2) of section 10a-1, except the regional community-technical 24
colleges; and 25
[(6)] (5) "Eligible educational costs" means the tuition and required 26
fees for an individual student that are published by each public or 27
independent institution of higher education participating in the grant 28
program established under this section, plus a fixed amount for 29
required books and educational supplies as determined by the Office of 30
Higher Education. 31
(b) The Office of Higher Education shall establish the Roberta B. 32
Willis Scholarship program to annually make need-based financial aid 33
available for eligible educational costs to eligible students enrolled at 34
Connecticut's public and independent institutions of higher education. 35
Within available funds, the Roberta B. Willis Scholarship program shall 36
include a need and merit-based grant, a need-based grant and a Charter 37
Oak grant. The need and merit-based grant shall be funded at not less 38
than twenty per cent but not more than thirty per cent of available funds 39
or ten million dollars, whichever is greater. The need-based grant shall 40
be funded at up to eighty per cent of available funds. The Charter Oak 41
grant shall be not less than one hundred thousand dollars of available 42
funds. There shall be an administrative allowance based on one-quarter 43
of one per cent of the available funds, but not less than one hundred 44
thousand dollars annually. The Office of Higher Education shall 45
disburse the funds appropriated or allocated for the Roberta B. Willis 46
Scholarship program for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2024, and June 47
30, 2025, to make awards pursuant to subsection (c) of this section and 48
allocate funds pursuant to subsections (d) and (f) of this section in 49 Substitute Bill No. 5
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accordance with a plan developed by the office, provided the office shall 50
(1) disburse all funds allocated for the Roberta B. Willis Scholarship 51
program from the federal funds designated for the state pursuant to the 52
provisions of Section 602 of Subtitle M of Title IX of the American Rescue 53
Plan Act of 2021, P.L. 117-2, as amended from time to time, on or before 54
December 31, 2024, and (2) in accordance with subsection (f) of section 55
4-89, reserve an amount of not more than fifteen million dollars from the 56
amount appropriated for the Roberta B. Willis Scholarship program for 57
the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, for disbursement during the fiscal 58
year ending June 30, 2026. 59
(c) The Roberta B. Willis Scholarship need and merit-based grant 60
shall be available to any eligible student at any public or independent 61
institution of higher education. The Office of Higher Education shall 62
determine qualification for financial need based on [family contribution 63
prior to July 1, 2024, and, on and after July 1, 2024, based on] the student 64
aid index and qualification for merit based on either previous high 65
school academic achievement or performance on standardized 66
academic aptitude tests. The Office of Higher Education shall make 67
awards according to a sliding scale, annually determined by said office, 68
up to a maximum [family contribution or] student aid index and based 69
on available funds and the number of eligible students who qualify for 70
an award. The Roberta B. Willis Scholarship need and merit-based grant 71
shall be awarded in a higher amount than the need-based grant 72
awarded pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. [, except for the 73
academic year commencing July 1, 2024.] Recipients of the need and 74
merit-based grant shall not be eligible to receive an additional need-75
based award. The order of institutions of higher education provided by 76
an eligible student on such student's Free Application for Federal 77
Student Aid shall not affect the student's qualification for an award 78
under this subsection. The institution of higher education in which an 79
eligible student enrolls shall disburse sums awarded under the need and 80
merit-based grant for payment of such student's eligible educational 81
costs. 82
(d) The Roberta B. Willis Scholarship need-based grant shall be 83 Substitute Bill No. 5
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available to any eligible student at any public or independent institution 84
of higher education. The amount of the annual funds to be allocated to 85
each institution of higher education shall be determined by its actual 86
full-time equivalent enrollment of eligible students with a [family 87
contribution or] student aid index during the fall semester of the fiscal 88
year two years prior to the grant year of an amount not greater than two 89
hundred per cent of the maximum [family contribution or] student aid 90
index eligible for a federal Pell grant award for the academic year one 91
year prior to the grant year. Not later than July first, annually, each 92
institution of higher education shall report such enrollment data to the 93
Office of Higher Education. Not later than October first, annually, the 94
Office of Higher Education shall (1) publish such enrollment data on its 95
Internet web site, (2) notify each institution of higher education of the 96
proportion of the annual funds that such institution of higher education 97
will receive the following fiscal year, and (3) publish the proportions for 98
each institution of higher education on its Internet web site. Not later 99
than November first, annually, the Office of Higher Education shall 100
notify each institution of higher education of the amount of funds 101
allocated to such institution for awards to eligible students during the 102
following fiscal year. Participating institutions of higher education shall 103
make awards (A) to eligible full-time students in an amount [up] equal 104
to four thousand five hundred dollars, and (B) to eligible part-time 105
students in an amount that is prorated according to the number of 106
credits each student will earn for completing the course or courses in 107
which such student is enrolled, such that a student enrolled in a course 108
or courses earning (i) at least nine but less than twelve credits is eligible 109
for up to seventy-five per cent of the [maximum] award amount for a 110
full-time student, and (ii) at least six but less than nine credits is eligible 111
for up to fifty per cent of the [maximum] award amount for a full-time 112
student. Each participating institution of higher education shall expend 113
all of the moneys received under the Roberta B. Willis Scholarship 114
program as direct financial assistance only for eligible educational costs. 115
(e) Participating institutions of higher education shall annually 116
provide the Office of Higher Education with data and reports on all 117 Substitute Bill No. 5
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eligible students who applied for financial aid, including, but not 118
limited to, students receiving a Roberta B. Willis Scholarship grant, in a 119
form and at a time determined by said office. If an institution of higher 120
education fails to submit information to the Office of Higher Education 121
as directed, such institution shall be prohibited from participating in the 122
scholarship program in the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which 123
such institution failed to submit such information. Each participating 124
institution of higher education shall maintain, for a period of not less 125
than three years, records substantiating the reported number of eligible 126
students and documentation utilized by the institution of higher 127
education in determining qualification of the student grant recipients. 128
Such records shall be subject to audit or review. [For the academic year 129
commencing July 1, 2024, the Office of Higher Education shall (1) not 130
require participating institutions of higher education to reduce the 131
amount of a need-based grant awarded to an eligible student based on 132
the initial qualifications determined from such student's Free 133
Application for Federal Student Aid, even if the United States 134
Department of Education subsequently revises such qualifications, and 135
(2) deem a participating institution of higher education to be in 136
compliance with this section if such initial qualifications qualified an 137
eligible student for the need-based grant that such student was 138
awarded.] Funds not obligated by an institution of higher education 139
shall be returned by [May] April first in the fiscal year the grant was 140
[made] to be awarded to an eligible student to the Office of Higher 141
Education for reallocation for the next fiscal year. Financial aid provided 142
to eligible students under this program shall be designated as a grant 143
from the Roberta B. Willis Scholarship program. 144
(f) The Roberta B. Willis Scholarship Charter Oak grant shall be 145
available to any eligible student enrolled in Charter Oak State College. 146
The Office of Higher Education shall allocate any funds to Charter Oak 147
State College to be used to provide grants for eligible educational costs 148
to eligible students who demonstrate substantial financial need and 149
who are matriculated in a degree program at Charter Oak State College. 150
Individual awards shall not exceed a student's calculated eligible 151 Substitute Bill No. 5
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educational costs. Financial aid provided to eligible students under this 152
program shall be designated as a grant from the Roberta B. Willis 153
Scholarship program. 154
(g) In administering the Roberta B. Willis Scholarship program, the 155
Office of Higher Education shall develop and utilize fiscal procedures 156
designed to ensure accountability of the public funds expended. Such 157
procedures shall include provisions for compliance reviews that shall be 158
conducted by the Office of Higher Education on any institution of 159
higher education that participates in the program. Commencing with 160
the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, and biennially thereafter, each such 161
institution of higher education shall submit the results of an audit done 162
by an independent certified public accountant for each year of 163
participation in the program. Any institution of higher education 164
determined by the Office of Higher Education not to be in substantial 165
compliance with the provisions of the Roberta B. Willis Scholarship 166
program shall be ineligible to receive funds under the program for the 167
fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the institution of higher 168
education was determined not to be in substantial compliance. Funding 169
shall be restored when the Office of Higher Education determines that 170
the institution of higher education has returned to substantial 171
compliance. 172
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2025 10a-173
HED Joint Favorable Subst.