HB4463ham001 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Renée Kosel

Filed: 4/7/2014

09800HB4463ham001 LRB098 15325 RPM 58304 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4463

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4463 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is amended by changing Sections 35 and 70 as follows:

(110 ILCS 947/35)

Sec. 35. Monetary award program.

(a) The Commission shall, each year, receive and consider applications for grant assistance under this Section. Subject to a separate appropriation for such purposes, an applicant is eligible for a grant under this Section when the Commission finds that the applicant:

(1) is a resident of this State and a citizen or permanent resident of the United States; and

(2) in the absence of grant assistance, will be deterred by financial considerations from completing an educational program at the qualified institution of his or her choice.

(b) The Commission shall award renewals only upon the student's application and upon the Commission's finding that the applicant:

(1) has remained a student in good standing, in accordance with the institution's academic policy adopted in compliance with subsection (b-5) of this Section;

(2) remains a resident of this State; and

(3) is in a financial situation that continues to warrant assistance.

(b-5) Qualified institutions participating in the Monetary Award Program must adopt standards related to grant recipients' academic achievement and progress towards a degree. These standards must be at least as strict as those applied to students who are not recipients of grant aid under this Section. Each institution shall annually provide to the Commission a copy of the institution's policy outlining these academic standards and, if the policy is revised, shall provide the revised policy to the Commission.

(c) All grants shall be applicable only to tuition and necessary fee costs. The Commission shall determine the grant amount for each student, which shall not exceed the smallest of the following amounts:

(1) subject to appropriation, $5,468 for fiscal year 2009, $5,968 for fiscal year 2010, and $6,468 for fiscal year 2011 and each fiscal year thereafter, or such lesser amount as the Commission finds to be available, during an academic year;

(2) the amount which equals 2 semesters or 3 quarters tuition and other necessary fees required generally by the institution of all full-time undergraduate students; or

(3) such amount as the Commission finds to be appropriate in view of the applicant's financial resources.

Subject to appropriation, the maximum grant amount for students not subject to subdivision (1) of this subsection (c) must be increased by the same percentage as any increase made by law to the maximum grant amount under subdivision (1) of this subsection (c).

"Tuition and other necessary fees" as used in this Section include the customary charge for instruction and use of facilities in general, and the additional fixed fees charged for specified purposes, which are required generally of nongrant recipients for each academic period for which the grant applicant actually enrolls, but do not include fees payable only once or breakage fees and other contingent deposits which are refundable in whole or in part. The Commission may prescribe, by rule not inconsistent with this Section, detailed provisions concerning the computation of tuition and other necessary fees.

(d) No applicant, including those presently receiving scholarship assistance under this Act, is eligible for monetary award program consideration under this Act after receiving a baccalaureate degree or the equivalent of 135 semester credit hours of award payments.

(e) The Commission, in determining the number of grants to be offered, shall take into consideration past experience with the rate of grant funds unclaimed by recipients. The Commission shall notify applicants that grant assistance is contingent upon the availability of appropriated funds.

(f) The Commission may request appropriations for deposit into the Monetary Award Program Reserve Fund. Monies deposited into the Monetary Award Program Reserve Fund may be expended exclusively for one purpose: to make Monetary Award Program grants to eligible students. Amounts on deposit in the Monetary Award Program Reserve Fund may not exceed 2% of the current annual State appropriation for the Monetary Award Program.

The purpose of the Monetary Award Program Reserve Fund is to enable the Commission each year to assure as many students as possible of their eligibility for a Monetary Award Program grant and to do so before commencement of the academic year. Moneys deposited in this Reserve Fund are intended to enhance the Commission's management of the Monetary Award Program, minimizing the necessity, magnitude, and frequency of adjusting award amounts and ensuring that the annual Monetary Award Program appropriation can be fully utilized.

(g) The Commission shall determine the eligibility of and make grants to applicants enrolled at qualified for-profit institutions in accordance with the criteria set forth in this Section. The eligibility of applicants enrolled at such for-profit institutions shall be limited as follows:

(1) Beginning with the academic year 1997, only to eligible first-time freshmen and first-time transfer students who have attained an associate degree.

(2) Beginning with the academic year 1998, only to eligible freshmen students, transfer students who have attained an associate degree, and students who receive a grant under paragraph (1) for the academic year 1997 and whose grants are being renewed for the academic year 1998.

(3) Beginning with the academic year 1999, to all eligible students.

(Source: P.A. 95-917, eff. 8-26-08.)

(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) If an institution of higher learning has credible information indicating that funds awarded by the Commission were falsely or fraudulently acquired, then the institution shall immediately report such information to the Commission and, as needed, to the proper law enforcement agency or prosecutor.

(Source: P.A. 92-713, eff. 7-23-02.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.".