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1 AN ACT concerning education.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is
5 amended by changing Section 65.100 as follows:
6 (110 ILCS 947/65.100)
7 (Section scheduled to be repealed on October 1, 2024)
8 Sec. 65.100. AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program.
9 (a) The General Assembly makes all of the following
10 findings:
11 (1) Both access and affordability are important
12 aspects of the Illinois Public Agenda for College and
13 Career Success report.
14 (2) This State is in the top quartile with respect to
15 the percentage of family income needed to pay for college.
16 (3) Research suggests that as loan amounts increase,
17 rather than an increase in grant amounts, the probability
18 of college attendance decreases.
19 (4) There is further research indicating that
20 socioeconomic status may affect the willingness of
21 students to use loans to attend college.
22 (5) Strategic use of tuition discounting can decrease
23 the amount of loans that students must use to pay for
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1 tuition.
2 (6) A modest, individually tailored tuition discount
3 can make the difference in a student choosing to attend
4 college and enhance college access for low-income and
5 middle-income families.
6 (7) Even if the federally calculated financial need
7 for college attendance is met, the federally determined
8 Expected Family Contribution can still be a daunting
9 amount.
10 (8) This State is the second largest exporter of
11 students in the country.
12 (9) When talented Illinois students attend
13 universities in this State, the State and those
14 universities benefit.
15 (10) State universities in other states have adopted
16 pricing and incentives that allow many Illinois residents
17 to pay less to attend an out-of-state university than to
18 remain in this State for college.
19 (11) Supporting Illinois student attendance at
20 Illinois public universities can assist in State efforts
21 to maintain and educate a highly trained workforce.
22 (12) Modest tuition discounts that are individually
23 targeted and tailored can result in enhanced revenue for
24 public universities.
25 (13) By increasing a public university's capacity to
26 strategically use tuition discounting, the public
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1 university will be capable of creating enhanced tuition
2 revenue by increasing enrollment yields.
3 (b) In this Section:
4 "Eligible applicant" means a student from any high school
5 in this State, whether or not recognized by the State Board of
6 Education, who is engaged in a program of study that in due
7 course will be completed by the end of the school year and who
8 meets all of the qualifications and requirements under this
9 Section.
10 "Tuition and other necessary fees" includes the customary
11 charge for instruction and use of facilities in general and
12 the additional fixed fees charged for specified purposes that
13 are required generally of non-grant recipients for each
14 academic period for which the grant applicant actually
15 enrolls, but does not include fees payable only once or
16 breakage fees and other contingent deposits that are
17 refundable in whole or in part. The Commission may adopt, by
18 rule not inconsistent with this Section, detailed provisions
19 concerning the computation of tuition and other necessary
20 fees.
21 (c) Beginning with the 2019-2020 academic year, each
22 public university may establish a merit-based scholarship
23 pilot program known as the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program. Each
24 year, the Commission shall receive and consider applications
25 from public universities under this Section. Each
26 participating public university shall indicate that grants
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1 under the program come from AIM HIGH and shall use the words
2 "AIM HIGH" in the name of any grant under the program and in
3 any published or posted materials about the program. Subject
4 to appropriation and any tuition waiver limitation established
5 by the Board of Higher Education, a public university campus
6 may award a grant to a student under this Section if it finds
7 that the applicant meets all of the following criteria:
8 (1) He or she is a resident of this State and a citizen
9 or eligible noncitizen of the United States.
10 (2) He or she files a Free Application for Federal
11 Student Aid and demonstrates financial need with a
12 household income no greater than 6 times the poverty
13 guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by
14 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the
15 authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2). The household income of
16 the applicant at the time of initial application shall be
17 deemed to be the household income of the applicant for the
18 duration of the pilot program.
19 (3) He or she meets the minimum cumulative grade point
20 average or ACT or SAT college admissions test score, as
21 determined by the public university campus.
22 (4) He or she is enrolled in a public university as an
23 undergraduate student on a full-time basis.
24 (5) He or she has not yet received a baccalaureate
25 degree or the equivalent of 135 semester credit hours.
26 (6) He or she is not incarcerated.
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1 (7) He or she is not in default on any student loan or
2 does not owe a refund or repayment on any State or federal
3 grant or scholarship.
4 (8) Any other reasonable criteria, as determined by
5 the public university campus.
6 Each public university campus shall allow qualified
7 full-time undergraduate students to apply for a grant, but may
8 choose to allow qualified part-time undergraduate students who
9 are enrolling in their final semester at the public university
10 campus to also apply.
11 (d) Each public university campus shall determine grant
12 renewal criteria consistent with the requirements under this
13 Section.
14 (e) Each participating public university campus shall post
15 on its Internet website criteria and eligibility requirements
16 for receiving awards that use funds under this Section that
17 include a range in the sizes of these individual awards. The
18 criteria and amounts must also be reported to the Commission
19 and the Board of Higher Education, who shall post the
20 information on their respective Internet websites.
21 (f) After enactment of an appropriation for this Program,
22 the Commission shall determine an allocation of funds to each
23 public university in an amount proportionate to the number of
24 undergraduate students who are residents of this State and
25 citizens or eligible noncitizens of the United States and who
26 were enrolled at each public university campus in the previous
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1 academic year. All applications must be made to the Commission
2 on or before a date determined by the Commission and on forms
3 that the Commission shall provide to each public university
4 campus. The form of the application and the information
5 required shall be determined by the Commission and shall
6 include, without limitation, the total public university
7 campus funds used to match funds received from the Commission
8 in the previous academic year under this Section, if any, the
9 total enrollment of undergraduate students who are residents
10 of this State from the previous academic year, and any
11 supporting documents as the Commission deems necessary. Each
12 public university campus shall match the amount of funds
13 received by the Commission with financial aid for eligible
14 students.
15 A public university in which an average of at least 49% of
16 the students seeking a bachelor's degree or certificate
17 received a Pell Grant over the prior 3 academic years, as
18 reported to the Commission, shall match 35% 20% of the amount
19 of funds awarded in a given academic year with non-loan
20 financial aid for eligible students. A public university in
21 which an average of less than 49% of the students seeking a
22 bachelor's degree or certificate received a Pell Grant over
23 the prior 3 academic years, as reported to the Commission,
24 shall match 70% 60% of the amount of funds awarded in a given
25 academic year with non-loan financial aid for eligible
26 students.
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1 A public university campus is not required to claim its
2 entire allocation. The Commission shall make available to all
3 public universities, on a date determined by the Commission,
4 any unclaimed funds and the funds must be made available to
5 those public university campuses in the proportion determined
6 under this subsection (f), excluding from the calculation
7 those public university campuses not claiming their full
8 allocations.
9 Each public university campus may determine the award
10 amounts for eligible students on an individual or broad basis,
11 but, subject to renewal eligibility, each renewed award may
12 not be less than the amount awarded to the eligible student in
13 his or her first year attending the public university campus.
14 Notwithstanding this limitation, a renewal grant may be
15 reduced due to changes in the student's cost of attendance,
16 including, but not limited to, if a student reduces the number
17 of credit hours in which he or she is enrolled, but remains a
18 full-time student, or switches to a course of study with a
19 lower tuition rate.
20 An eligible applicant awarded grant assistance under this
21 Section is eligible to receive other financial aid. Total
22 grant aid to the student from all sources may not exceed the
23 total cost of attendance at the public university campus.
24 (g) All money allocated to a public university campus
25 under this Section may be used only for financial aid purposes
26 for students attending the public university campus during the
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1 academic year, not including summer terms. Notwithstanding any
2 other provision of law to the contrary, any funds received by a
3 public university campus under this Section that are not
4 granted to students in the academic year for which the funds
5 are received may be retained by the public university campus
6 for expenditure on students participating in the Program or
7 students eligible to participate in the Program.
8 (h) Each public university campus that establishes a
9 Program under this Section must annually report to the
10 Commission, on or before a date determined by the Commission,
11 the number of undergraduate students enrolled at that campus
12 who are residents of this State.
13 (i) Each public university campus must report to the
14 Commission the total non-loan financial aid amount given by
15 the public university campus to undergraduate students in the
16 2017-2018 academic year or the 2021-2022 academic year, not
17 including the summer terms term. To be eligible to receive
18 funds under the Program, a public university campus may not
19 decrease the total amount of non-loan financial aid it gives
20 to undergraduate students, not including any funds received
21 from the Commission under this Section or any funds used to
22 match grant awards under this Section, to an amount lower than
23 the reported amount reported under this subsection (i) for the
24 2017-2018 academic year or the 2021-2022 academic year,
25 whichever is less, not including the summer terms term.
26 (j) On or before a date determined by the Commission, each
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1 public university campus that participates in the Program
2 under this Section shall annually submit a report to the
3 Commission with all of the following information:
4 (1) The Program's impact on tuition revenue and
5 enrollment goals and increase in access and affordability
6 at the public university campus.
7 (2) Total funds received by the public university
8 campus under the Program.
9 (3) Total non-loan financial aid awarded to
10 undergraduate students attending the public university
11 campus.
12 (4) Total amount of funds matched by the public
13 university campus.
14 (5) Total amount of claimed and unexpended funds
15 retained by the public university campus.
16 (6) The percentage of total financial aid distributed
17 under the Program by the public university campus.
18 (7) The total number of students receiving grants from
19 the public university campus under the Program and those
20 students' grade level, race, gender, income level, family
21 size, Monetary Award Program eligibility, Pell Grant
22 eligibility, and zip code of residence and the amount of
23 each grant award. This information shall include unit
24 record data on those students regarding variables
25 associated with the parameters of the public university's
26 Program, including, but not limited to, a student's ACT or
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1 SAT college admissions test score, high school or
2 university cumulative grade point average, or program of
3 study.
4 On or before October 1, 2020 and annually on or before
5 October 1 through 2024 thereafter, the Commission shall submit
6 a report with the findings under this subsection (j) and any
7 other information regarding the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program
8 to (i) the Governor, (ii) the Speaker of the House of
9 Representatives, (iii) the Minority Leader of the House of
10 Representatives, (iv) the President of the Senate, and (v) the
11 Minority Leader of the Senate. The reports to the General
12 Assembly shall be filed with the Clerk of the House of
13 Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate in electronic
14 form only, in the manner that the Clerk and the Secretary shall
15 direct. The Commission's report may not disaggregate data to a
16 level that may disclose personally identifying information of
17 individual students.
18 The sharing and reporting of student data under this
19 subsection (j) must be in accordance with the requirements
20 under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of
21 1974 and the Illinois School Student Records Act. All parties
22 must preserve the confidentiality of the information as
23 required by law. The names of the grant recipients under this
24 Section are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of
25 Information Act.
26 Public university campuses that fail to submit a report
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1 under this subsection (j) or that fail to adhere to any other
2 requirements under this Section may not be eligible for
3 distribution of funds under the Program for the next academic
4 year, but may be eligible for distribution of funds for each
5 academic year thereafter.
6 (k) The Commission shall adopt rules to implement this
7 Section.
8 (l) (Blank). This Section is repealed on October 1, 2024.
9 (Source: P.A. 100-587, eff. 6-4-18; 100-1015, eff. 8-21-18;
10 100-1183, eff. 4-4-19; 101-81, eff. 7-12-19; 101-613, eff.
11 6-1-20; 101-643, eff. 6-18-20; 101-654, eff. 3-8-21.)
12 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
13 becoming law.
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