SB1549sam001 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Sen. Andy Manar

Filed: 3/15/2013

09800SB1549sam001 LRB098 08932 NHT 42383 a

AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 1549

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 1549 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is amended by changing Section 38 as follows:

(110 ILCS 947/38)

Sec. 38. Monetary award program accountability.

(a) The Illinois Student Assistance Commission is directed to assess the educational persistence of monetary award program recipients. An assessment under this Section shall include an analysis of such factors as undergraduate educational goals, chosen field of study, retention rates, and expected time to complete a degree. The assessment also shall include an analysis of the academic success of monetary award program recipients through a review of measures that are typically associated with academic success, such as grade point average, satisfactory academic progress, and credit hours earned. Each analysis should take into consideration student class level, dependency types, and the type of higher education institution at which each monetary award program recipient is enrolled. The Commission shall report its findings to the General Assembly and the Board of Higher Education by February 1, 1999 and at least every 2 years thereafter.

(b) The Commission shall assess the student completion performance of institutions of higher learning participating in the monetary award program (MAP). In assessing institutional performance, the Commission shall generate a model for predicted performance using such risk factors as Pell participation rate, delayed enrollment, part-time enrollment, students working full-time while enrolled, students financially independent for purposes of determining Title IV federal student aid, students with a dependent or dependents, single parenthood, completion of high school with a General Educational Development certificate or other high school completion certificate, or non-completion of high school.

The Commission shall compare the institution's completion rate for first-time, full-time students, as reported to the U.S. Department of Education, to the modeled, predicted rate and annually publish the results.

The Commission shall calculate a minimum completion threshold for each institution that is equal to 90% of the institution's predicted completion rate. Institutions failing to meet the minimum completion threshold for 2 successive academic years shall be placed on warning status. Institutions on warning status shall be required to notify all current and prospective students of its status and the reason for that status. Institutions on warning status must bring their completion rates to the minimum threshold within the 2 academic years following placement on warning status (the remedial period) or be subject to the following:

(1) A 20% reduction in the funding rate for each paid MAP grant for each of the 2 subsequent academic years following the remedial period.

(2) If the institution fails to bring its completion rate to the minimum threshold within the first 2 academic years following the remedial period, then it will be subject to a 40% reduction in the funding rate for each paid MAP grant.

(3) If the institution fails to bring its completion rate to the minimum threshold within the first 4 academic years following the remedial period, then its eligibility to participate in the monetary award program shall be suspended until it has met the minimum completion rate for 2 successive academic years.

(4) If the institution successfully meets or exceeds the minimum completion rate threshold during any of the 4 academic years following the remedial period, its funding rate shall be restored to 100%.

(c) An institution participating in the monetary award program must provide the following disclosures and services to all grant recipients:

(1) Information about completion rates, including performance against predicted completion rates, typical costs and debt incurred for the selected program of study, and graduate outcomes for the selected program, including graduate school admission and employment rates.

(2) A 2-week period of initial study, from which a student may withdraw without incurrence of any financial obligation for tuition and fees.

(3) Easy access to information about their progress toward their program's completion requirements, including credits earned, credits remaining, and incurred costs and debt. The information shall include enough detail to enable a student to make reasonable projections of the time and costs necessary to complete his or her degree.

(4) Trained, easily accessible staff who can help them complete their enrollment, develop their academic plans, and sort through their educational financing options.

(Source: P.A. 90-486, eff. 8-17-97; 90-488, eff. 8-17-97.)".