[ Home ] [ ILCS ] [ Search ] [ Bottom ]
[ Other General Assemblies ]
Public Act 92-0713
HB4351 Enrolled LRB9214616NTpk
AN ACT regarding higher education student assistance.
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. In any case, a student must be enrolled for at least
6 semester or 6 quarter hours for the term to maintain any
eligibility for grant benefits under subsection (c) of
Section 35.
(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 shall, 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.
(Source: P.A. 87-997.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.
Passed in the General Assembly May 07, 2002.
Approved July 23, 2002.
Effective July 23, 2002.
[ Top ]