(c) Pursuant to this Section, if a resident of a community college district wants to attend the community college maintained by the district of his or her residence, but the student wants to enroll in a program that is not offered by that community college and the community college does not have a contractual agreement under Section 3-40 of this Act for such a program, then the student, subject to Section 3-17, may attend any recognized public community college in any other district and shall pay tuition and fees at the in-district rate of the receiving college. If the student is seeking State or federal financial assistance, then the student shall apply for assistance at the receiving college.

(d) The State Board shall maintain a program directory on the State Board's website to assist community colleges in determining which programs are offered at each community college. At a minimum, this directory shall provide a comparison of program titles and classification of instructional program codes.

Delivery methods and minor program differences, such as the length of a semester, online versus in-person instruction, competency-based instruction, and program credit hours, and minor course requirement differences do not constitute a difference in a  program for purposes of attending another community college under this Section. Programmatic differences shall be based upon classification of instructional program codes, the occupational outlook for completers, or other substantial programmatic differences. Determinations regarding programmatic differences shall be first determined by the sending college. The State Board shall establish a process for resolving disputes between community college districts regarding programmatic differences.

(e) Students who want to enroll at a receiving college shall make an application to their sending college in accordance with rules and procedures established and published by their sending college. Community colleges shall make every attempt to review such requests in a timely manner so as to not impede the students' educational progress. Students shall secure from their sending college a letter designating them as participants in an approved program. A copy of such letter shall be sent to the receiving college.

A student may not enroll under the provisions of this Section in a program of a receiving college at the in-district tuition rate if the student's educational objectives can be met at the sending college.

(f) Upon written approval from the sending college, a student shall register at the receiving college and shall be a member of the receiving college's district for the term of the student's enrollment. A student may choose to complete any required general education coursework and may take approved courses at the sending college or at the receiving college. Upon successful completion, courses taken at either the sending college or the receiving college shall be acceptable for transfer to the sending college or receiving college for completion of any program. The receiving college shall maintain admission records and transcripts and issue any degrees or certificates to the student upon completing the educational program. The receiving college shall provide copies of such records to the sending college at the student's request or as part of any program verification for the sending college.

(g) The receiving college shall provide access to its learning resources center and other instructional resources for students from the sending college, equal to those provided for any other student at the receiving college. The receiving college shall also provide counseling and guidance and other services that facilitate the learning process.

(h) The receiving college shall be considered the student's district for athletic eligibility, for any activity in which the student officially represents a community college, for the military, and for scholarships offered by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Other athletic eligibility requirements shall be determined by the rules of the receiving college's athletic conference. Students from any sending college are eligible at the receiving college for any other extracurricular activities, scholarships, or other recognition of excellence in the program for which they are attending at the receiving college.

(i) Except for equalization grants, the receiving college is eligible to file claims for State grants under Section 2-16.02 of this Act for any student from the sending college enrolled in courses offered at the receiving college.  The receiving college shall provide the sending college with the semester credit hours taken by each student from the sending college for purposes of equalization grants.  If the student enrolls in courses offered at the sending college, the sending college shall claim semester credit hours provided to the student in attendance at the sending college.

(Source: P.A. 103-159, eff. 1-1-24.)