HB3947ham001 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Laura Fine

Filed: 3/14/2014

09800HB3947ham001 LRB098 15507 NHT 56034 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3947

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3947 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is amended by adding Section 65.90 as follows:

(110 ILCS 947/65.90 new)

Sec. 65.90. Smarter Illinois and Retaining Talent Tuition Program.

(a) It is the intent of the legislature that the pilot program created under this Section continue for at least 5 years. The Commission shall seek funding for the pilot program from private and public sources. The legislature shall appropriate money from these sources and from the General Revenue Fund in each State fiscal year that the pilot program continues in an amount sufficient to operate the pilot program. However, money from the Education Assistance Fund must not be appropriated for the pilot program.

(b) In this Section:

"Adjusted gross income" means "adjusted gross income" as defined in Section 62 of the federal Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. 62).

"Community college" means a public community college located in this State.

"Participant" means a student selected by the Commission to participate in the pilot program.

"Pilot program" means the Smarter Illinois and Retaining Talent Tuition Program created in this Section.

"Public university" means a public university located in this State.

"Tuition" means the quarter or semester charges imposed to attend a community college or public university and all mandatory fees required as a condition of enrollment, as determined by the Commission.

"Weighted average tuition cost of community colleges" means the tuition cost arrived at by adding the products of the annual tuition cost at each community college and its total number of fiscal-year-equated students, then dividing the gross total of this cumulation by the total number of fiscal-year-equated students attending community colleges.

"Weighted average tuition cost of public universities" means the tuition cost arrived at by adding the products of the annual tuition cost at each public university and its total number of fiscal-year-equated students, then dividing the gross total of this cumulation by the total number of fiscal-year-equated students attending public universities.

(c) The Commission shall create and implement a tuition grant pilot program, to be known as the Smarter Illinois and Retaining Talent Tuition Program, that pays certain tuition costs of participating community college and public university students in exchange for those students' agreement to pay this State a certain percentage of their future income. All of the following apply to this pilot program:

(1) The Commission shall select 100 students who are enrolled in a public university in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics field of study and 100 students who are enrolled in a community college in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics field of study to participate in the pilot program.

(2) A student enrolled in a community college or public university may submit an application to the Commission to participate in the pilot program if he or she is a resident of this State, as determined by the community college or public university. The Commission shall select the participants in the pilot program from among those applicants. If there are more than 100 applicants to participate in the pilot program as community college students or more than 100 applicants to participate in the pilot program as public university students, the Commission shall select the participants from among the applicants using a random selection process.

(3) A student is not eligible to participate in the pilot program if the adjusted gross income of the student and his or her immediate family is $250,000 or more.

(4) Each participant shall enter into a written agreement that provides that, in exchange for payment on his or her behalf of an amount equal to the weighted average tuition cost to the public university or community college in which he or she is enrolled, he or she agrees to pay the Commission a percentage of his or her future earnings. The participant's payment obligation under this subdivision (4) shall meet the requirements of subsection (d) of this Section.

(5) For an academic year, the amount of a grant to a participant shall not exceed the weighted average tuition cost of community colleges if the participant is enrolled in a community college or the weighted average tuition cost of public universities if the participant is enrolled in a public university.

(6) The Commission may not award a grant in more than 3 consecutive academic years if the participant is enrolled in a community college or 5 consecutive academic years if the participant is enrolled in a public university.

(7) After completion of the first full academic year in which he or she participates in the pilot program, a participant is ineligible to receive additional grants if he or she fails to maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale or its equivalent at the community college or public university in which he or she is enrolled and that failure continues for more than one term or semester.

(8) It is the intent of the legislature that the Commission's administrative costs in connection with the pilot program not exceed 1%.

(d) In each calendar year for which a participant in the pilot program has a payment obligation described in subdivision (4) of subsection (c) of this Section, the participant shall pay the Commission an amount equal to 2% of his or her adjusted gross income for that year if he or she attended a community college or 4% of his or her adjusted gross income for that year if he or she attended a public university. The participant's payment obligation begins in the first calendar year in which he or she obtains employment after he or she graduated from or stopped attending the community college or public university in which he or she was enrolled and his or her adjusted gross income from that employment in that year exceeds the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2). The payment obligation continues for the following consecutive number of years, as applicable:

(1) If tuition payments were made on behalf of the participant by the Commission for one academic year at the community college or public university, 5 years of payments.

(2) If tuition payments were made on behalf of the participant by the Commission for 2 academic years at the community college or public university, 10 years of payments.

(3) If tuition payments were made on behalf of the participant by the Commission for 3 academic years at the community college or public university, 15 years of payments.

(4) If tuition payments were made on behalf of the participant by the Commission for 4 academic years at the public university, 20 years of payments.

(5) If tuition payments were made on behalf of the participant by the Commission for 5 academic years at the public university, 25 years of payments.

(e) On or before the start of each State fiscal year, beginning with the 2016 fiscal year, the Commission shall submit to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the Financial Aid Restructuring Committee established in subsection (f) of this Section a report concerning the implementation of the pilot program in the preceding State fiscal year. The report shall include all of the following for the preceding State fiscal year:

(1) The number of participants who were enrolled in community colleges and, for those participants, the number that continued in the pilot program; the number that dropped out of the pilot program; the number that dropped out of a community college; and the number that graduated from a community college.

(2) The number of participants who were enrolled in public universities and, for those participants, the number that continued in the pilot program; the number that dropped out of the pilot program; the number that dropped out of a public university; and the number that graduated from a public university.

(3) An analysis of the payments described in subdivision (4) of subsection (c) of this Section that the Commission had received from participants, including, but not limited to, how many payments were made on time, how many payments were late, how much each recipient had received from the Commission under this Section, and how much each participant had repaid to the Commission.

(4) The number of participants who had found employment.

(5) The number of students who were then unemployed.

(6) A general summary of the pilot program, including, but not limited to, how much the Commission had paid on behalf of participants, the total amount repaid to the Commission by participants, and a projection of future payments the Commission estimated it would receive from participants.

(f) The Financial Aid Restructuring Committee is established within the Commission. All of the following apply to the committee:

(1) The committee shall consist of all of the following members:

(A) Five voting members who are residents of this State and are appointed by the Governor, as follows:

(i) One individual representing public universities.

(ii) One individual representing community colleges.

(iii) One individual selected from one or more individuals nominated by the President of the Senate.

(iv) One individual selected from one or more individuals nominated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

(v) One individual representing the public.

(B) The Executive Director of the Commission or his or her designee, who is a nonvoting member of the committee and shall serve as chairperson of the committee.

(2) The term of office of the appointed members is 2 years and until a successor is appointed and has qualified. A member may be removed in the manner provided for by law for removal of public officers. A vacancy must be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as the original appointment.

(3) The committee shall conduct its activities in compliance with the Open Meetings Act. The committee shall give public notice of the time, date, and place of meetings of the committee in the manner required by the Open Meetings Act.

(4) The committee shall make any writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by the committee in the performance of an official function available to the public in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.

(5) The committee shall analyze the report described in subsection (e) of this Section and, within 6 months after receiving the report, shall make recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly concerning the long-term viability of a financial aid program similar in structure to the pilot program.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 2014.".