HB0745 EngrossedLRB101 03379 AXK 48387 b

1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is
5amended by changing Section 70 as follows:
 
6    (110 ILCS 947/70)
7    Sec. 70. Administration of scholarship and grant programs.
8    (a) An applicant to whom the Commission has awarded a
9scholarship or grant under this Act may apply for enrollment as
10a student in any qualified institution of higher learning. The
11institution is not required to accept the applicant for
12enrollment, but is free to exact compliance with its own
13admissions requirements, standards, and policies. The
14institution may receive the payments of tuition and other
15necessary fees provided by the scholarship or grant, for credit
16against the student's obligation for such tuition and fees, and
17for no other purpose, and shall be contractually obligated:
18        (1) to provide facilities and instruction to the
19    student on the same terms as to other students generally;
20        (2) to provide the notices and information described in
21    this Act; and to maintain records and documents which
22    demonstrate the eligibility of the students for whom
23    scholarships and grants are claimed.

 

 

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1    (b) If, in the course of any academic period, any student
2enrolled in any institution pursuant to a scholarship or grant
3awarded under this Act for any reason ceases to be a student in
4good standing, the institution shall promptly give written
5notice to the Commission concerning that change of status and
6the reason therefor. For purposes of this Section, a student
7does not cease to be a student in good standing merely because
8he or she is not classified as a full-time student.
9    (c) A student to whom a renewal scholarship or grant has
10been awarded may either re-enroll in the institution which he
11or she attended during the preceding year, or enroll in any
12other qualified institution of higher learning; and in either
13event, the institution accepting the student for enrollment or
14re-enrollment shall notify the Commission of that acceptance
15and may receive payments and shall be contractually obligated
16as provided with respect to a first-year scholarship or grant.
17    (d) The Commission shall administer the scholarship and
18grant accounts and related records of each student who is
19attending an institution of higher learning under financial
20assistance awarded pursuant to this Act, and at each proper
21time shall certify to the State Comptroller, in the manner
22prescribed by law, the current payment to be made to the
23institution on account of such financial assistance, in
24accordance with an appropriate certificate from the
25institution. The Commission may require the participating
26institution of higher learning to perform specific eligibility

 

 

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1evaluation procedures as a condition of participation.
2    (e) The Commission shall conduct on-site audits of
3educational institutions participating in Commission
4administered programs. When institutions have claimed and
5received funds on behalf of ineligible recipients, the
6Commission may adjust subsequent institutional payments to
7recover those funds.
8    (f) The Commission may, upon the request of any institution
9which received payment for scholarship and grant awards for
10each of the last 5 years, certify to the Comptroller an advance
11payment for the current term to be made to the institution on
12account of such financial assistance in an amount not to exceed
1375% of announced awards for the institution for such financial
14assistance for the current term, adjusted for attrition over
15the last 5 years. For the purposes of this Section, "attrition"
16is the number of announced award winners enrolled on the 10th
17class day as a percentage of the total announced awards. The
18request for an advance payment for the current term shall not
19be submitted until 10 class days after the last day for
20registration for that term. Upon appropriate certification
21from the institution presented for each payment period, after
22the standard tuition and mandatory fees have been established
23for all students for the term of payment and the award
24recipient has enrolled, the Commission shall certify to the
25State Comptroller the balance of the current payment to be made
26to the institution on account of such financial assistance. If

 

 

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1an advance payment received by an institution exceeds the
2payment to which that institution is entitled, the Commission
3shall reduce subsequent payments to that institution for later
4terms within the same academic year as the overpayment by an
5amount equal to the overpayment; if the reduction cannot be
6made, the institution shall refund the overpayment to the
7Commission. The Commission may deny or reduce the advance
8payment provided to any institution under this Section if it
9has reason to believe that the advance payment for the current
10term may exceed the full payment the institution is entitled to
11receive for such assistance for that term.
12    (g) The personal identity and address of a scholarship,
13grant, or other financial assistance applicant or recipient
14under a non-discretionary program administered by the
15Commission, including, but not limited to, the Monetary Award
16Program under Section 35 of this Act, where eligibility data is
17obtained from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
18authorized by 20 U.S.C. 1090 or is protected from disclosure
19under federal or State law or under rules and regulations
20implementing federal or State law, is information that is
21intended to remain private and shall be exempt from inspection
22and copying under the Freedom of Information Act. This
23subsection does not apply to the publication of the names of
24State Scholars designated pursuant to Section 25 of this Act or
25information disclosed in the aggregate in which a person's
26identity cannot be determined.

 

 

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1(Source: P.A. 100-887, eff. 8-14-18.)
 
2    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
3becoming law.