| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to student financial assistance; creating |
| 3 | s. 1009.701, F.S.; creating the First Generation Matching |
| 4 | Grant Program to provide financial aid to undergraduate |
| 5 | students with financial need whose parents have not earned |
| 6 | college degrees; providing for appropriation, allocation, |
| 7 | and distribution of funds; providing student eligibility |
| 8 | requirements; providing duties of state universities |
| 9 | participating in the program; requiring the Board of |
| 10 | Governors to adopt rules; providing an effective date. |
| 11 |
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| 12 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 13 |
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| 14 | Section 1. Section 1009.701, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 15 | to read: |
| 16 | 1009.701 First Generation Matching Grant Program.-- |
| 17 | (1) The First Generation Matching Grant Program is created |
| 18 | to enable each state university to provide donors with a |
| 19 | matching grant incentive for contributions that will create |
| 20 | grant-based student financial aid for undergraduate students who |
| 21 | demonstrate financial need and neither of whose parents, as |
| 22 | defined in s. 1009.21(1), has earned a college degree. |
| 23 | (2) Funds appropriated by the Legislature for the program |
| 24 | shall be deposited in the State Student Financial Assistance |
| 25 | Trust Fund. Notwithstanding s. 216.301 and pursuant to s. |
| 26 | 216.351, any undisbursed balance remaining in the trust fund and |
| 27 | interest income accruing to the portion of the trust fund that |
| 28 | is appropriated for the program shall remain in the trust fund |
| 29 | and increase the total funds available for the program. |
| 30 | (3) The amount appropriated to the trust fund for the |
| 31 | program shall be allocated by the Board of Governors of the |
| 32 | State University System to match private contributions on a |
| 33 | dollar-for-dollar basis. Matching funds shall be generated |
| 34 | through contributions made to a state university after July 1, |
| 35 | 2006, and pledged for the purposes of this section. Pledged |
| 36 | contributions are not eligible for matching prior to the actual |
| 37 | collection of the total funds. The Board of Governors shall |
| 38 | reserve a proportionate allocation for each state university on |
| 39 | the basis of full-time equivalent enrollments. Funds that remain |
| 40 | unmatched shall be reallocated on the same basis as the original |
| 41 | allocation and disbursed to state universities that have |
| 42 | remaining unmatched private contributions for the program. |
| 43 | (4) In order to be eligible to receive a grant pursuant to |
| 44 | this section, an applicant shall: |
| 45 | (a) Be a resident for tuition purposes pursuant to s. |
| 46 | 1009.21. |
| 47 | (b) Be a first-generation college student. For the |
| 48 | purposes of this section, a student is considered "first |
| 49 | generation" if neither parent, as defined in s. 1009.21(1), |
| 50 | earned a college degree at the associate level or higher. |
| 51 | (c) Be accepted at a state university. |
| 52 | (d) Be enrolled as a full-time, degree-seeking |
| 53 | undergraduate student. |
| 54 | (e) Have demonstrated financial need by completing the |
| 55 | Free Application for Federal Student Aid. |
| 56 | (f) Have applied for a federal Pell Grant. A Pell Grant |
| 57 | entitlement shall be considered when conducting an assessment of |
| 58 | the financial resources available to each student. |
| 59 | (5) Each participating state university shall establish an |
| 60 | application process, determine student eligibility for initial |
| 61 | and renewal awards in conformance with subsection (4), identify |
| 62 | the amount awarded to each recipient, and notify recipients of |
| 63 | the amount of their awards. No award may exceed the annual cost |
| 64 | of attendance calculated for comparable undergraduate students |
| 65 | attending the institution. No later than July 1, each |
| 66 | participating institution shall annually report to the Board of |
| 67 | Governors, the Executive Office of the Governor, the Speaker of |
| 68 | the House of Representatives, and the President of the Senate |
| 69 | regarding eligibility requirements for recipients, the aggregate |
| 70 | demographics of recipients, retention and graduation rates of |
| 71 | recipients, and a delineation of funds awarded to recipients. |
| 72 | (6) Payment of the state matching grant shall be |
| 73 | transmitted to the president of each participating institution |
| 74 | in advance of the registration period. |
| 75 | (7) The Board of Governors shall adopt rules necessary to |
| 76 | implement this section. |
| 77 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. |