Senate Bill sb1750c1

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    Florida Senate - 2006                           CS for SB 1750

    By the Committee on Education; and Senator Lawson





    581-1875-06

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to student financial

  3         assistance; creating s. 1009.701, F.S.;

  4         creating the First Generation Matching Grant

  5         Program to provide financial aid to

  6         undergraduate students with financial need

  7         whose parents have not earned a baccalaureate

  8         degree; providing for the appropriation,

  9         allocation, and distribution of funds;

10         providing student eligibility requirements;

11         providing duties of institutions participating

12         in the program; providing an effective date.

13  

14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

15  

16         Section 1.  Section 1009.701, Florida Statutes, is

17  created to read:

18         1009.701  First Generation Matching Grant Program.--

19         (1)  The First Generation Matching Grant Program is

20  created to enable each state university and community college

21  to provide donors with a matching grant incentive for

22  contributions that will create grant-based student financial

23  aid for undergraduate students who demonstrate financial need

24  and whose parents, as defined in s. 1009.21(1), have not

25  earned a baccalaureate degree. In the case of any individual

26  who regularly resided with and received support from only one

27  parent, an individual whose only such parent did not complete

28  a baccalaureate degree would also be eligible.

29         (2)  Funds appropriated by the Legislature for the

30  program shall be allocated by the Office of Student Financial

31  Assistance to match private contributions on a

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    Florida Senate - 2006                           CS for SB 1750
    581-1875-06




 1  dollar-for-dollar basis. Contributions made to a state

 2  university or community college and pledged for the purposes

 3  of this section are eligible for state matching funds

 4  appropriated for this program and are not eligible for any

 5  other state matching grant program. Pledged contributions are

 6  not eligible for matching prior to the actual collection of

 7  the total funds. The Office of Student Financial Assistance

 8  shall reserve one-half of the total appropriated funds for

 9  state universities and the remaining one-half for community

10  colleges. Within each 50-percent portion, the Office of

11  Student Financial Assistance shall reserve a proportionate

12  allocation for each state university and community college on

13  the basis of full-time equivalent enrollment. Funds that

14  remain unmatched as of December 1 shall be reallocated to

15  state universities and community colleges that have remaining

16  unmatched private contributions for the program on the basis

17  of full-time equivalent enrollment.

18         (3)  Payment of the state matching grant shall be

19  transmitted to the president of each participating institution

20  or his or her representative in advance of the official

21  drop-add deadline as defined by the institution.

22         (4)  Each participating state university and community

23  college shall establish an application process, determine

24  student eligibility for initial and renewal awards in

25  conformance with subsection (5), identify the amount awarded

26  to each recipient, and notify recipients of the amount of

27  their awards.

28         (5)  In order to be eligible to receive a grant

29  pursuant to this section, an applicant must:

30         (a)  Be a resident for tuition purposes pursuant to s.

31  1009.21.

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    Florida Senate - 2006                           CS for SB 1750
    581-1875-06




 1         (b)  Be a first-generation college student. For the

 2  purposes of this section, a student is considered "first

 3  generation" if neither of the student's parents, as defined in

 4  s. 1009.21(1), earned a college degree at the baccalaureate

 5  level or higher or, in the case of any individual who

 6  regularly resided with and received support from only one

 7  parent, if that parent did not earn a baccalaureate degree.

 8         (c)  Be accepted at a state university or community

 9  college.

10         (d)  Be enrolled for a minimum of six credit hours per

11  term as a degree-seeking undergraduate student.

12         (e)  Have demonstrated financial need by completing the

13  Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

14         (f)  Meet additional eligibility requirements as

15  established by the institution.

16         (6)  The award amount shall be based on the student's

17  need assessment after any scholarship or grant aid, including,

18  but not limited to, a Pell Grant or a Bright Futures

19  Scholarship, has been applied. An award may not exceed the

20  institution's estimated annual cost of attendance for the

21  student to attend the institution.

22         (7)  Each participating institution shall report to the

23  Office of Student Financial Assistance by the date established

24  by the office the eligible students to whom grant moneys are

25  disbursed each academic term. Each institution shall certify

26  to the Office of Student Financial Assistance the amount of

27  funds disbursed to each student and shall remit to the office

28  any undisbursed advances by June 1 of each year.

29         (8)  No later than July 1, each participating

30  institution shall annually report to the Executive Office of

31  the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the

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    Florida Senate - 2006                           CS for SB 1750
    581-1875-06




 1  House of Representatives, and each community college to the

 2  State Board of Education, and each state university to the

 3  Board of Governors, the eligibility requirements for

 4  recipients, the aggregate demographics of recipients, the

 5  retention and graduation rates of recipients, and a

 6  delineation of funds awarded to recipients.

 7         (9)  This section shall be implemented only as

 8  specifically funded.

 9         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

10  law.

11  

12          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
13                         Senate Bill 1750

14                                 

15  The committee substitute provides the following changes:

16  Expands the First Generation Matching Grant Program to include
    community colleges as participating institutions and requires
17  the Office of Student Financial Assistance to reserve and
    allocate one-half of the total appropriated funds for
18  community colleges;

19  Provides eligibility to students whose parents have not earned
    a baccalaureate degree and provides that in the case of a
20  student who regularly resided with and received support from
    only one parent, a student would be eligible if that parent
21  did not complete a baccalaureate degree;

22  Provides eligibility to students enrolled for a minimum of six
    credit hours per term at a community college or state
23  university as a degree seeking undergraduate student;

24  Permits individual institutions to establish additional
    eligibility requirements and requires the grant award amount
25  to be based on a student's need assessment after other awarded
    scholarship and grant aid have been applied; and
26  
    Provides that this section shall be implemented only as
27  specifically funded.

28  

29  

30  

31  

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