Public Act 101-0596
 
HB0745 EnrolledLRB101 03379 AXK 48387 b

    AN ACT concerning education.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is
amended by changing Section 70 as follows:
 
    (110 ILCS 947/70)
    Sec. 70. Administration of scholarship and grant programs.
    (a) An applicant to whom the Commission has awarded a
scholarship or grant under this Act may apply for enrollment as
a student in any qualified institution of higher learning. The
institution is not required to accept the applicant for
enrollment, but is free to exact compliance with its own
admissions requirements, standards, and policies. The
institution may receive the payments of tuition and other
necessary fees provided by the scholarship or grant, for credit
against the student's obligation for such tuition and fees, and
for no other purpose, and shall be contractually obligated:
        (1) to provide facilities and instruction to the
    student on the same terms as to other students generally;
        (2) to provide the notices and information described in
    this Act; and to maintain records and documents which
    demonstrate the eligibility of the students for whom
    scholarships and grants are claimed.
    (b) If, in the course of any academic period, any student
enrolled in any institution pursuant to a scholarship or grant
awarded under this Act for any reason ceases to be a student in
good standing, the institution shall promptly give written
notice to the Commission concerning that change of status and
the reason therefor. For purposes of this Section, a student
does not cease to be a student in good standing merely because
he or she is not classified as a full-time student.
    (c) A student to whom a renewal scholarship or grant has
been awarded may either re-enroll in the institution which he
or she attended during the preceding year, or enroll in any
other qualified institution of higher learning; and in either
event, the institution accepting the student for enrollment or
re-enrollment shall notify the Commission of that acceptance
and may receive payments and shall be contractually obligated
as provided with respect to a first-year scholarship or grant.
    (d) The Commission shall administer the scholarship and
grant accounts and related records of each student who is
attending an institution of higher learning under financial
assistance awarded pursuant to this Act, and at each proper
time shall certify to the State Comptroller, in the manner
prescribed by law, the current payment to be made to the
institution on account of such financial assistance, in
accordance with an appropriate certificate from the
institution. The Commission may require the participating
institution of higher learning to perform specific eligibility
evaluation procedures as a condition of participation.
    (e) The Commission shall conduct on-site audits of
educational institutions participating in Commission
administered programs. When institutions have claimed and
received funds on behalf of ineligible recipients, the
Commission may adjust subsequent institutional payments to
recover those funds.
    (f) The Commission may, upon the request of any institution
which received payment for scholarship and grant awards for
each of the last 5 years, certify to the Comptroller an advance
payment for the current term to be made to the institution on
account of such financial assistance in an amount not to exceed
75% of announced awards for the institution for such financial
assistance for the current term, adjusted for attrition over
the last 5 years. For the purposes of this Section, "attrition"
is the number of announced award winners enrolled on the 10th
class day as a percentage of the total announced awards. The
request for an advance payment for the current term shall not
be submitted until 10 class days after the last day for
registration for that term. Upon appropriate certification
from the institution presented for each payment period, after
the standard tuition and mandatory fees have been established
for all students for the term of payment and the award
recipient has enrolled, the Commission shall certify to the
State Comptroller the balance of the current payment to be made
to the institution on account of such financial assistance. If
an advance payment received by an institution exceeds the
payment to which that institution is entitled, the Commission
shall reduce subsequent payments to that institution for later
terms within the same academic year as the overpayment by an
amount equal to the overpayment; if the reduction cannot be
made, the institution shall refund the overpayment to the
Commission. The Commission may deny or reduce the advance
payment provided to any institution under this Section if it
has reason to believe that the advance payment for the current
term may exceed the full payment the institution is entitled to
receive for such assistance for that term.
    (g) The personal identity and address of a scholarship,
grant, or other financial assistance applicant or recipient
under a non-discretionary program administered by the
Commission, including, but not limited to, the Monetary Award
Program under Section 35 of this Act, where eligibility data is
obtained from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
authorized by 20 U.S.C. 1090 or is protected from disclosure
under federal or State law or under rules and regulations
implementing federal or State law, is information that is
intended to remain private and shall be exempt from inspection
and copying under the Freedom of Information Act. This
subsection does not apply to the publication of the names of
State Scholars designated pursuant to Section 25 of this Act or
information disclosed in the aggregate in which a person's
identity cannot be determined.
(Source: P.A. 100-887, eff. 8-14-18.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.