Public Act 098-1100
 
SB2765 EnrolledLRB098 16668 NHT 51736 b

    AN ACT concerning education.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Eastern Illinois University Law is amended
by changing Section 10-92 as follows:
 
    (110 ILCS 665/10-92)
    (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2019)
    Sec. 10-92. Tuition affordability discount waiver
limitation pilot program.
    (a) The General Assembly makes all of the following
findings:
        (1) Both access and affordability are important points
    in the Illinois Public Agenda for College and Career
    Success.
        (2) This State is in the top quartile with respect to
    the percentage of family income needed to pay for college.
        (3) Research suggests that as loan amounts increase,
    versus grants-in-aid, the probability of college
    attendance decreases.
        (4) There is further research indicating socioeconomic
    status may affect the willingness of students to use loans
    to attend college.
        (5) Strategic use of tuition discounting waivers will
    decrease the amount of loans that students must use to pay
    for tuition.
        (6) A modest, individually tailored tuition discount
    waiver can make the difference in choosing to attend
    college and would enhance college access for low (up to
    150% of the federal poverty level) and middle income (151%
    to 300% of the federal poverty level) families.
        (7) Even if the federally calculated financial need for
    college attendance is met, the federally determined
    Expected Family Contribution can still be a daunting
    amount.
        (8) This State is the second largest exporter of
    students in the country.
        (9) Illinois students need to be kept in this State.
    State universities in other states have adopted pricing and
    incentives that make college expenses for residents of this
    State less than in this State.
        (10) A mechanism is needed to stop the outflow of
    Illinois students to institutions in other states,
    assisting in State efforts to maintain and educate a highly
    trained workforce.
        (11) By being competitive on costs of attendance, this
    State can bring out-of-state students to this State.
        (12) The pilot program established under this Section
    will allow Eastern Illinois University to compete for
    highly qualified students who may reside in other states by
    mitigating the effect of cost differences.
        (13) Modest tuition discounts waivers, individually
    targeted and tailored, result in enhanced revenue for
    university programs.
        (14) By increasing Eastern Illinois University's
    capacity to strategically use tuition discounting waivers,
    the University will be capable of creating enhanced tuition
    revenue by increasing enrollment yields.
        (15) The Board of Higher Education's current
    institutional tuition waiver limitation is 3% of total
    available undergraduate tuition revenue.
    (b) The Board shall establish a pilot program to increase
the Board of Higher Education's institutional tuition waiver
limitation for the university over a 4-year period to increase
access to college and make college more affordable for
undergraduate students. Under the pilot program, the
institutional tuition waiver limitation shall be increased by 2
percentage points in the 2012-2013 academic year, 2 percentage
points in the 2013-2014 academic year, 2 percentage points in
the 2014-2015 academic year, and one percentage point in the
2015-2016 academic year, resulting in an institutional tuition
waiver limitation of 10% in the fourth year of the pilot
program and thereafter.
    (c) The pilot program shall require that students who
receive a tuition discount waiver under the pilot program be
accepted to the university through normal admissions standards
and processes. Individual tuition discounts waivers granted
under the pilot program must not exceed $2,500 per academic
year. The pilot program shall provide a maximum of one discount
waiver per academic year for a maximum of 4 years to each
student in the pilot program who maintains satisfactory
academic progress. The pilot program shall be terminated after
the 2018-2019 2015-2016 academic year, with no new students
receiving discounts waivers. However, notwithstanding the
Board of Higher Education's institutional tuition waiver
limitation, existing students receiving discounts waivers
under the pilot program are eligible to maintain those
discounts waivers, with satisfactory academic progress, under
the 4-year limitation, after the 2018-2019 2015-2016 academic
year due to maintenance of effort within their 4-year window.
Sunset dates for discounted waiver support shall be based upon
the first academic year in which a student receives a discount
waiver. The sunset dates are as follows for each annual cohort
of pilot program participants:
        (1) Cohort 1: the beginning year is 2012-2013 and the
    terminal year is 2015-2016.
        (2) Cohort 2: the beginning year is 2013-2014 and the
    terminal year is 2016-2017.
        (3) Cohort 3: the beginning year is 2014-2015 and the
    terminal year is 2017-2018.
        (4) Cohort 4: the beginning year is 2015-2016 and the
    terminal year is 2018-2019.
    (d) Every 2 years, the The Board shall annually report to
the Board of Higher Education on the pilot program's impact on
tuition revenue, enrollment goals, and increasing access and
affordability on such dates as the Board of Higher Education
shall determine.
    (e) The Board of Higher Education may adopt any rules that
are necessary to implement this Section.
    (f) This Section is repealed on July 1, 2022 2019.
(Source: P.A. 97-290, eff. 8-10-11.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2015