HB2505 Summary

• Establishes the AIM HIGH Grant Pilot Program for Illinois public universities beginning with the 2019-2020 academic year, allowing merit-based scholarship awards to eligible undergraduate students.

• Restricts eligibility to Illinois residents and citizens/eligible noncitizens with household income no greater than 6 times the federal poverty guideline who demonstrate financial need and meet minimum academic standards set by each university.

• Requires public universities to match state-allocated funds with their own financial aid and prohibits reducing total non-loan financial aid below fiscal year 2018 levels to participate in the program.

• Allows universities to retain unused allocated funds for expenditure on program participants or eligible students, rather than refunding unspent amounts to the state.

• Mandates annual reporting to the Higher Education Commission on enrollment, financial aid distribution, student demographics, and program impact, with the pilot program scheduled to expire October 1, 2024.