Florida Senate - 2022                                    SB 1034
       
       
        
       By Senator Gruters
       
       
       
       
       
       23-00874C-22                                          20221034__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the William L. Boyd, IV, Effective
    3         Access to Student Education Grant Program; amending s.
    4         1009.89, F.S.; revising the institutions a student
    5         must attend to receive a William L. Boyd, IV,
    6         Effective Access to Student Education grant to include
    7         certain for-profit independent colleges and
    8         universities; providing an effective date.
    9          
   10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   11  
   12         Section 1. Subsections (1) and (3) of section 1009.89,
   13  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   14         1009.89 The William L. Boyd, IV, Effective Access to
   15  Student Education grants.—
   16         (1) The Legislature finds and declares that independent
   17  nonprofit colleges and universities eligible to participate in
   18  the William L. Boyd, IV, Effective Access to Student Education
   19  Grant Program are an integral part of the higher education
   20  system in this state and that a significant number of state
   21  residents choose this form of higher education. The Legislature
   22  further finds that a strong and viable system of independent
   23  nonprofit colleges and universities reduces the tax burden on
   24  the citizens of the state. Because the William L. Boyd, IV,
   25  Effective Access to Student Education Grant Program is not
   26  related to a student’s financial need or other criteria upon
   27  which financial aid programs are based, it is the intent of the
   28  Legislature that the William L. Boyd, IV, Effective Access to
   29  Student Education Grant Program not be considered a financial
   30  aid program but rather a tuition assistance program for its
   31  citizens.
   32         (3) The department shall issue through the program a
   33  William L. Boyd, IV, Effective Access to Student Education grant
   34  to any full-time degree-seeking undergraduate student registered
   35  at an independent nonprofit college or university which is
   36  located in and chartered by the state; which is accredited by
   37  the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of
   38  Colleges and Schools; which grants baccalaureate degrees; which
   39  is not a state university or Florida College System institution;
   40  and which has a secular purpose, so long as the receipt of state
   41  aid by students at the institution would not have the primary
   42  effect of advancing or impeding religion or result in an
   43  excessive entanglement between the state and any religious sect.
   44  A for-profit college or university must have Level 5
   45  accreditation from the Commission on Colleges of the Southern
   46  Association of College and Schools in addition to the foregoing
   47  requirements.
   48         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.