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| | HB5122 Engrossed | | LRB100 18414 KTG 33627 b |
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1 | | AN ACT concerning State government.
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2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | | Section 5. The Children and Family Services Act is amended |
5 | | by changing Section 8 as follows:
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6 | | (20 ILCS 505/8) (from Ch. 23, par. 5008)
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7 | | Sec. 8. Scholarships and fee waivers ; tuition waiver . |
8 | | (a) Each year the Department shall select a minimum of 53 |
9 | | students (at least 4 of whom shall be children of veterans) to |
10 | | receive scholarships and fee waivers which will enable them to |
11 | | attend and complete their post-secondary education at a |
12 | | community college, university, or college. Youth shall be |
13 | | selected from among the youth for whom the Department has |
14 | | court-ordered legal responsibility, youth who aged out of care |
15 | | at age 18 or older, or youth formerly under care
who have been |
16 | | adopted or who have been placed in private guardianship. |
17 | | Recipients must have earned a high school diploma from an |
18 | | accredited institution or a high school equivalency |
19 | | certificate or diploma or have met the State criteria for high |
20 | | school graduation before the start of the school year for which |
21 | | they are applying for the scholarship and waiver. Scholarships |
22 | | and fee waivers shall be available to students for at least 5 |
23 | | years, provided they are continuing to work toward graduation. |
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1 | | Unused scholarship dollars and fee waivers shall be reallocated |
2 | | to new recipients. No later than January 1, 2015, the |
3 | | Department shall promulgate rules identifying the criteria for |
4 | | "continuing to work toward graduation" and for reallocating |
5 | | unused scholarships and fee waivers. Selection shall be made on |
6 | | the
basis of several factors, including, but not limited to, |
7 | | scholastic record, aptitude, and general interest in higher
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8 | | education. The selection committee shall include at least 2 |
9 | | individuals formerly under the care of the Department who have |
10 | | completed their post-secondary education. In accordance with |
11 | | this Act, tuition scholarships and fee waivers
shall be |
12 | | available to such students at any university or college |
13 | | maintained by
the State of Illinois. The Department shall |
14 | | provide maintenance and school
expenses, except tuition and |
15 | | fees, during the academic years to supplement
the students' |
16 | | earnings or other resources so long as they consistently
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17 | | maintain scholastic records which are acceptable to their |
18 | | schools and to
the Department. Students may attend other |
19 | | colleges and universities, if
scholarships are awarded them, |
20 | | and receive the same benefits for maintenance
and other |
21 | | expenses as those students attending any Illinois State |
22 | | community
college, university, or college under this Section. |
23 | | Beginning with recipients receiving scholarships and waivers |
24 | | in August 2014, the Department shall collect data and report |
25 | | annually to the General Assembly on measures of success, |
26 | | including (i) the number of youth applying for and receiving |
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1 | | scholarships or waivers , (ii) the percentage of scholarship or |
2 | | waiver recipients who complete their college or university |
3 | | degree within 5 years, (iii) the average length of time it |
4 | | takes for scholarship or waiver recipients to complete their |
5 | | college or university degree, (iv) the reasons that scholarship |
6 | | or waiver recipients are discharged or fail to complete their |
7 | | college or university degree, (v) when available, youths' |
8 | | outcomes 5 years and 10 years after being awarded the |
9 | | scholarships or waivers , and (vi) budget allocations for |
10 | | maintenance and school expenses incurred by the Department.
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11 | | (b) Youth who are not selected to receive a scholarship or |
12 | | fee waiver under subsection (a) shall receive a tuition and fee |
13 | | waiver to assist them in attending and completing their |
14 | | post-secondary education at any community college, university, |
15 | | or college maintained by the State of Illinois if they are |
16 | | youth for whom the Department has court-ordered legal |
17 | | responsibility, youth who aged out of care at age 18 or older, |
18 | | or youth formerly under care who have been adopted and were the |
19 | | subject of an adoption assistance agreement or who have been |
20 | | placed in private guardianship and were the subject of a |
21 | | subsidized guardianship agreement. |
22 | | To receive a waiver under this subsection, an applicant |
23 | | must: |
24 | | (1) have earned a high school diploma from an
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25 | | accredited institution or a high school equivalency
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26 | | certificate or have met the State criteria for high school
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1 | | graduation before the start of the school year for which |
2 | | the applicant is applying for the waiver; |
3 | | (2) enroll in a
qualifying post-secondary education |
4 | | before the applicant reaches the age
of 26; and |
5 | | (3) apply for federal and State grant assistance by |
6 | | completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. |
7 | | The community college or public university
that an |
8 | | applicant attends must waive any tuition and fee amounts that |
9 | | exceed the amounts paid to the applicant under the federal Pell |
10 | | Grant Program or the State's Monetary Award Program. |
11 | | Tuition and fee waivers shall be available to a student for |
12 | | at least the first 5 years the student is enrolled in a |
13 | | community college, university, or college maintained by the |
14 | | State of Illinois so long as the student makes satisfactory |
15 | | progress toward completing his or her degree. The age |
16 | | requirement and 5-year cap on tuition and fee waivers under |
17 | | this subsection shall be waived and eligibility for tuition and |
18 | | fee waivers shall be extended for any applicant or student who |
19 | | the Department determines was unable to enroll in a qualifying |
20 | | post-secondary school or complete an academic term because the |
21 | | applicant or student: (i) was called into active duty with the |
22 | | United States Armed Forces; (ii) was deployed for service in |
23 | | the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps; or |
24 | | (iii) volunteered in the Peace Corps or the AmeriCorps. The |
25 | | Department shall extend eligibility for a qualifying applicant |
26 | | or student by the total number of months or years during which |
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1 | | the applicant or student served on active duty with the United |
2 | | States Armed Forces, was deployed for service in the United |
3 | | States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, or |
4 | | volunteered in the Peace Corps or the AmeriCorps. The number of |
5 | | months an applicant or student served on active duty with the |
6 | | United States Armed Forces shall be rounded up to the next |
7 | | higher year to determine the maximum length of time to extend |
8 | | eligibility for the applicant or student. |
9 | | The Department may provide the student with a stipend to |
10 | | cover maintenance and school expenses, except tuition and fees, |
11 | | during the academic years to supplement the student's earnings |
12 | | or other resources so long as the student consistently |
13 | | maintains scholastic records which are acceptable to the |
14 | | student's school and to the Department. |
15 | | The Department shall develop outreach programs to ensure |
16 | | that youths who qualify for the tuition and fee waivers under |
17 | | this subsection who are high school students in grades 9 |
18 | | through 12 or who are enrolled in a high school equivalency |
19 | | testing program are aware of the availability of the tuition |
20 | | and fee waivers. |
21 | | (Source: P.A. 98-718, eff. 1-1-15; 98-805, eff. 1-1-15; 99-78, |
22 | | eff. 7-20-15.)
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