PRINTER'S NO. 1477
No. 1287 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY TRICH, VEON, SANTONI, GRUCELA, DALEY, LAUGHLIN,
ROBINSON, TANGRETTI, BELFANTI, OLIVER, McCALL, SHANER, SURRA,
SOLOBAY, PESCI, MELIO, STURLA, TRAVAGLIO, BARRAR, WILLIAMS,
COSTA, HARHAI, JOSEPHS, TRELLO, MANDERINO, KENNEY, HANNA,
JAMES AND STEELMAN, APRIL 14, 1999
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, APRIL 14, 1999
AN ACT
1 Establishing a fund to provide incentives for postgraduate
2 Pennsylvania residence retention.
3 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
4 hereby enacts as follows:
5 Section 1. PRIDE fund established.
6 A fund is created to help finance college education for
7 eligible students. It shall be known as the PRIDE Fund. Moneys
8 shall be credited to the fund from revenues received from
9 personal income tax revenues, up to $200,000,000 annually.
10 Section 2. Purpose.
11 From the PRIDE Fund, a loan of up to $2,500 a year and not
12 more than $10,000 a year in the aggregate shall be given to each
13 eligible student in order to retain that student's residence in
14 Pennsylvania after graduation.
15 Section 3. Eligibility.
16 To be eligible for a loan, a student shall:
1 (1) Be enrolled as a full-time student in an institution
2 of higher learning which is located in this Commonwealth.
3 (2) Have lived in this Commonwealth for at least one
4 year prior to enrollment.
5 (3) Be enrolled in a degree-related or certificate-
6 related program.
7 (4) Maintain the academic equivalent of at least a 3.0
8 grade point average out of a maximum of four points in high
9 school and in the degree-related or certificate-related
10 program.
11 (5) Sign an agreement that he or she shall, following
12 completion of the program, maintain residency and employment
13 in this Commonwealth for at least two years.
14 Section 4. Loan forgiveness.
15 For each year, after program completion, that a loan
16 recipient maintains residency and employment in this
17 Commonwealth, he or she shall not have to repay $2,500 of the
18 total amount borrowed. A maximum of $10,000 in loan indebtedness
19 may be forgiven under this section.
20 Section 5. Change in residency.
21 If a loan recipient moves out of this Commonwealth, any
22 outstanding loan indebtedness shall be repaid along with
23 interest at the rate of 8% per year and shall be repaid within
24 ten years of the loan's initiation date.
25 Section 6. Administration.
26 The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency shall
27 administer the program and may promulgate any regulations which
28 are necessary to do so. The Pennsylvania Higher Education
29 Assistance Agency shall report annually to the General Assembly
30 on the status of the fund and the program.
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1 Section 7. Acronym.
2 The acronym "PRIDE" stands for "Performance Rewards Investing
3 Dividends in Education."
4 Section 8. Effective date.
5 This act shall take effect July 1, 1999.
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