PRINTER'S NO. 776
No. 713 Session of 1989
INTRODUCED BY REGOLI, ANDREZESKI, SCANLON, MUSTO, SALVATORE,
JONES, PECORA, STOUT, SHAFFER, WILLIAMS, STAPLETON,
PORTERFIELD, AFFLERBACH, REIBMAN, BODACK AND HELFRICK,
MARCH 20, 1989
REFERRED TO EDUCATION, MARCH 20, 1989
AN ACT
1 Providing State-funded grants for qualified students of
2 Pennsylvania who need financial assistance to attend
3 postsecondary institutions of higher learning on a part-time
4 enrollment basis; providing for the administration of this
5 act; and making an appropriation.
6 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
7 hereby enacts as follows:
8 Section 1. Short title.
9 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Part-Time
10 Student Grant Act.
11 Section 2. Purpose.
12 Part-time enrollments and part-time students' financial needs
13 are steadily increasing each year. Today nearly one of every
14 four undergraduates and one of every two graduate students in
15 Pennsylvania's postsecondary institutions are enrolled on a
16 part-time basis. Enrollments are growing as many Pennsylvanians
17 find it necessary to seek further education and training after
18 experiencing unemployment and job displacement as our economy's
1 basis shifts from heavy industry to services and high
2 technology. Increasing numbers of women are enrolling on a part-
3 time basis as more employment opportunities become available to
4 women and, in many cases, as it becomes necessary for women to
5 work to augment a spouse's income or to support children as
6 single parents. Additionally, attendance on a part-time basis
7 represents one method of coping with the rising college costs
8 and diminishing access to financial aid to meet those costs that
9 all students have experienced during the 1980's. While part-time
10 students represent over 30% of all enrolled students, they have
11 access to less than 8% of all available financial aid, primarily
12 because of the demand for financial aid by full-time students.
13 The General Assembly believes the Commonwealth can no longer
14 overlook the part-time students' needs or the potential benefits
15 that will accrue to Pennsylvania from attendance and completion
16 of educational programs by such students. Therefore, the purpose
17 of this act is to establish a publicly funded program of grant
18 assistance to help students pay for their costs of attending
19 postsecondary educational institutions on a part-time basis.
20 Section 3. Definitions.
21 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
22 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
23 context clearly indicates otherwise:
24 "Agency." The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance
25 Agency (PHEAA).
26 "Approved high school." Any public or private secondary
27 school, whether designated as a high school, academy,
28 preparatory school, or otherwise, located in this Commonwealth
29 or elsewhere, which in the judgment of the Pennsylvania
30 Department of Education, provides a course of instruction at the
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1 secondary level, and maintains standards of instruction
2 substantially equivalent to those of the public high schools
3 located in this Commonwealth.
4 "Approved institution of higher learning." Any institution
5 of higher learning approved by the agency.
6 "Approved program." Any program of study approved by the
7 agency.
8 "Financial need." The need of the student as calculated by,
9 or at the direction of, the agency according to standards and
10 tests of financial need approved by the agency.
11 "Guardian." Any person or persons, other than a parent with
12 whom a minor child has lived and been in the continuous direct
13 care and control of for a period of not less than two years for
14 purposes of domicile.
15 "Part-time student." A student enrolled less than full time,
16 but at least the equivalent of six semester credits or 225 clock
17 hours of instruction per semester, in a program approved by the
18 agency and at an approved institution of higher learning or
19 shall mean a student enrolled in a program of study of less than
20 two academic years but at least one academic year as defined by
21 the agency.
22 "Part-time student grant." A grant to an eligible applicant
23 enrolled as a part-time student paid from funds specifically
24 appropriated for this purpose.
25 Section 4. State Part-Time Student Grant Program.
26 (a) Creation and administration.--The Part-Time Student
27 Grant Program is hereby created and is to be administered by the
28 Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.
29 (b) Powers of agency.--The agency shall prepare and
30 supervise the issuance of public information concerning the
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1 provisions of the Part-Time Student Grant Program and prescribe
2 the form and regulate the submission of applications; calculate
3 the financial need and determine the eligibility of applicants;
4 select qualified recipients; award appropriate grants; and
5 determine eligibility for renewal of grants. The agency is
6 authorized to make all necessary and proper regulations,
7 consistent with this act, for the efficient exercise and
8 implementation of the foregoing functions and other activities
9 under this act.
10 Section 5. Eligibility.
11 (a) Qualifications.--Any student is eligible for
12 consideration for a part-time student grant providing:
13 (1) The student meets the domicile requirements as
14 follows:
15 (i) A student who is under 18 years of age at the
16 time the student makes application for an award or to
17 renew an award must have a supporting parent or guardian
18 who has been a bona fide domiciliary of this Commonwealth
19 for at least 12 months immediately preceding the date of
20 application for a grant or to renew a grant.
21 (ii) A student who is 18 years of age or over must
22 have been a bona fide domiciliary of this Commonwealth
23 for a period of at least 12 months prior to the time this
24 student makes application for a grant or to renew a
25 grant.
26 (iii) Any period of time during which a person is
27 enrolled as a student in an educational institution may
28 not be counted as a part of the 12 months' domicile
29 herein required when the student came into this
30 Commonwealth or remained in the Commonwealth for the
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1 purpose of attending a school or college as determined by
2 the agency.
3 (iv) The agency shall make the final decision in all
4 matters pertaining to domicile and guardianship.
5 (v) In view of the fact that Pennsylvania
6 domiciliaries attending approved institutions of higher
7 learning located outside of Pennsylvania may exercise
8 their right of franchise by absentee ballot, a student
9 who registers to vote in a state other than this
10 Commonwealth shall be deemed to have abandoned domicile
11 in Pennsylvania and shall be ineligible for consideration
12 for a State grant or renewal thereof or any further
13 payments thereon. At such time as the student again
14 registers to vote in the Commonwealth, further
15 eligibility insofar as voter registration is concerned
16 shall be restored.
17 (2) The student is a graduate of, or is attending, an
18 approved high school or is a recipient of a Commonwealth
19 secondary school diploma.
20 (3) The student is enrolled, or will be enrolled as a
21 part-time student at an institution of higher learning in an
22 approved program.
23 (4) The student shall satisfactorily meet the
24 qualifications of financial need, academic promise, academic
25 achievement and such other standards as established by the
26 agency.
27 (5) The part-time student grant recipient shall be free
28 to attend any approved institution of higher learning of the
29 student's choice and apply the scholarship toward the
30 tuition, room, board, books and fees of any approved program.
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1 The institution is not required to accept the grant recipient
2 for enrollment, but is free to exact compliance with its own
3 admission requirements, standards and policies of admission.
4 (b) Nondiscrimination.--The grants will be made without
5 regard to the applicant's race, creed, color, sex, age, national
6 origin or ancestry.
7 Section 6. Award value.
8 All part-time student grant awards will be based on the
9 applicant's financial need. The minimum grant award shall be
10 $100 per academic year and the maximum grant shall not exceed
11 the limitations established by the board so as to keep
12 expenditures within the funds available from Federal, State or
13 other sources for such purpose and appropriations shall be
14 reenacted annually as provided for under the act of March 28,
15 1974 (P.L.228, No.50), referred to as the Higher Education
16 Assistance Continuation Law, relating to the forward funding of
17 PHEAA for grants during any fiscal year.
18 Section 7. Qualifications for renewal of part-time grant.
19 (a) Qualifications.--Qualifications for renewal will include
20 maintaining satisfactory academic standing, making normal
21 progress toward completion of the program of study, and
22 continued eligibility as determined by the agency including
23 continuous Pennsylvania domicile. The part-time student grant
24 may be renewed from academic year to academic year until the
25 student has completed the approved program, but the total of the
26 grants shall not exceed the full-time equivalent number and
27 dollar value of grants to which the student would have been
28 entitled had the program been completed on a full-time basis.
29 (b) Transfers.--In the event that a part-time grant
30 recipient transfers from one institution to another, the grant
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1 shall be transferrable only with the approval of the agency and
2 shall be based upon costs of the approved program at the new
3 institution as approved by the agency.
4 (c) Use of unused funds.--The agency shall have the right to
5 use any or all of the unused part-time grant funds for
6 additional grants in any fiscal year and in any grant program
7 administered by the agency.
8 (d) Payments.--Payments of part-time grants will be made by
9 the agency in accordance with the rules and regulations
10 established by the agency. Should the recipient terminate
11 enrollment for any reason during the academic year, the unused
12 portion of the grant shall be returned at the request of the
13 agency by the institution according to the institution's
14 approved policy for issuing refunds.
15 Section 8. Minors may receive grant.
16 Any person otherwise qualifying for any grant under this act
17 shall not be disqualified by reason of the person being under
18 the age of 18. For the purpose of applying for, receiving or
19 making restitution of part-time grants, any person under the age
20 of 18 shall be deemed to have full legal capacity to act and
21 shall have all the rights, powers, privileges and obligations of
22 a person of full age with respect to such actions.
23 Section 9. Powers and duties of agency.
24 In addition to the other powers and duties, the agency is
25 authorized and empowered to exercise and perform any and all of
26 the powers and duties granted to the agency under the laws of
27 this Commonwealth to implement and carry out the provisions of
28 this act.
29 Section 10. Appropriation.
30 (a) Specific appropriation.--The sum of $15,000,000 is
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1 hereby specifically appropriated to PHEAA and transferred to the
2 Higher Education Assistance Fund for funding and administration
3 of part-time student grants.
4 (b) Construction.--This appropriation shall be in addition
5 to and separate from any amount appropriated for State grants,
6 made under the provisions of the act of January 25, 1966 (1965
7 P.L.1546, No.541), entitled "An act providing scholarships and
8 providing funds to secure Federal funds for qualified students
9 of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who need financial
10 assistance to attend postsecondary institutions of higher
11 learning, making an appropriation, and providing for the
12 administration of this act," for the 1985-1986 academic year.
13 (c) Separate account.--Appropriations for the purpose of
14 part-time grants shall be placed in a separate account of the
15 Higher Education Assistance Fund.
16 (d) Awards to full-time students.--If in any year the
17 appropriation to fund State grants to full-time students, as
18 provided for under the act of January 25, 1966 (1965 P.L.1546,
19 No.541), does not equal or exceed the level of funds
20 appropriated for State grants for full-time students for the
21 previous fiscal year and there are funds appropriated
22 specifically for State grants for part-time students, the
23 agency's board of directors shall determine if sufficient funds
24 are available from part-time grants funding to permit awards to
25 be made to full-time students under the act of January 25, 1966
26 (1965 P.L.1546, No.541), and the board shall have the power to
27 utilize such funds to make and administer grants to students
28 enrolled on either a full-time or part-time basis.
29 Section 11. Severability.
30 The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision of
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1 this act or its application to any person or circumstance is
2 held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions
3 or applications of this act which can be given effect without
4 the invalid provision or application.
5 Section 12. Effective date.
6 This act shall take effect immediately.
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