Bill Text: IL HB2928 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Creates the Relieve College Costs Pilot Program Act. Creates a pilot program for a 4-year degree pathway based on texts that served as the core foundational basis for western civilization and the Enlightenment, under which one public high school, one public community college, and one public university shall develop a competency-based baccalaureate degree program for a Fundamental Issues and Texts Humanities Degree. Includes as goals of the program: (1) preparing students with skills relating to critical thinking, problem solving, rational inquiry, and oral and written communication needed for employment or further graduate study; (2) using open educational resources if available; (3) using online course options if available to reduce costs; (4) identifying pathway courses to promote dual credit course enrollment in the participating high school; and (5) having a $20,000 maximum tuition rate for the entirety of the degree pathway. Contains provisions concerning a program director, the curriculum, open educational resources, reporting, and rulemaking. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-7)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-04-29 - Added as Alternate Chief Co-Sponsor Sen. Bill Cunningham [HB2928 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HB2928-Engrossed.html

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HB2928 Engrossed LRB102 14505 CMG 19858 b
AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Relieve College Costs Pilot Program Act.
Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly makes all of the
following findings:
(1) A college degree involving a substantive and
rigorous curriculum that is designed to challenge the
mind, enhance knowledge and skills, provide a core,
canonical knowledge base, expose students to great
literature and writing, and prepare a student for success
as a future citizen can be a valuable asset to residents of
this State.
(2) Public community colleges and universities offer
multiple existing courses of study pertaining to
fundamental topics that have historically served as the
foundation for degrees in the humanities, including art,
philosophy, logic and rhetoric, history, literature, world
religions, world languages, and studies of civilizations
from antiquity, that, in turn, have served as the basis
for intellectual thought and development for generations.
These may be classified as high impact courses.

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(3) In view of COVID-19, many institutions of higher
learning have cultivated courses that can be delivered
through online instruction.
(4) Many State residents will experience disruptions
or economic hardships when seeking a college degree.
(5) It is in the interests of State residents to
identify affordable pathways to secure a college degree.
(6) It is in the interests of State residents to have
an accredited 4-year college degree pathway based on
high-impact courses that costs less than $20,000 for the
entirety of the degree pathway.
(7) It is also in the interests of State residents to
employ, if possible, a degree pathway based on educational
resources that reside in the public domain or which have
been released under an intellectual property license that
allows for free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with
others, including full courses, course materials, modules,
textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any
other tools, materials, or techniques used to support
access to knowledge. Many foundational materials and
original sources used in high impact courses are
particularly likely to fall into these categories.
Section 10. Creation of a 4-year degree pathway. A pilot
program is created for a 4-year degree pathway, which shall
comply with the standards of the Higher Learning Commission,

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based on texts that served as the core foundational basis for
western civilization and the Enlightenment. The degree pathway
may not exceed $20,000 for the full degree program. This
pathway may be referred to as the Fundamental Issues and Texts
Humanities Degree.
Section 15. Relieve College Costs Pilot Program.
(a) Subject to appropriation, beginning with the 2021-2022
academic year or, if funds are not appropriated for the
program that academic year, beginning with the academic year
in which funds are appropriated for the program, the State
Board of Education, Illinois Community College Board, and
Board of Higher Education shall coordinate with each other to
assign a qualified individual to serve as a program director
to develop the curriculum for the 4-year degree pathway
created in Section 10.
If a source of outside funding for the program director is
secured to support the development of the program, the State
Board of Education, Illinois Community College Board, and
Board of Higher Education shall facilitate the approval of the
Fundamental Issues and Texts Humanities Degree curriculum
pathway for the public institutions agreeing to participate in
the pilot program.
(b) Under the program, one public high school, one public
community college, and one public university in this State
shall be chosen to develop a competency-based baccalaureate

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degree program for the Fundamental Issues and Texts Humanities
Degree. The goals of the program must include all of the
following:
(1) To prepare students who complete the program with
the requisite skills relating to critical thinking,
problem solving, rational inquiry, and oral and written
communication needed for employment or further graduate
study.
(2) To use open educational resources if available.
(3) To use online course options if available to
reduce costs.
(4) To identify pathway courses that can be used to
promote dual credit course enrollment in the participating
high school.
(5) To have a $20,000 maximum tuition rate for the
entirety of the degree pathway.
(c) The curriculum of the pilot program must include
course instruction on the canonical texts that served as the
foundations for western civilization and the Enlightenment in
areas that shall include, but are not limited to, philosophy,
literature, history, religion, government and politics, art,
and architecture. The program must allow for 2 courses of
instruction on global areas outside of western civilization in
areas that include, but are not limited to, philosophy,
literature, history, religion, government and politics, art,
and architecture.

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(d) The program director shall prioritize for the pilot
program community colleges and public universities that have
existing articulation agreements. The program director shall
attempt to craft a degree pathway that can be satisfied by
existing core courses that are commonly offered at multiple
institutions of higher education in this State.
Section 20. Open educational resources adoption
incentives.
(a) The State Board of Education, Illinois Community
College Board, and Board of Higher Education shall create a
panel comprised of all of the following members, who shall
serve without compensation:
(1) Eight persons from institutions of higher
education located in this State appointed by the Executive
Director of the Board of Higher Education, including at
least 2 representatives from a university, one
representative from a community college in Cook County,
one representative from a community college with a
district boundary that includes some portion of DuPage,
Kane, Lake, McHenry, or Will County, one representative
from a community college in downstate Illinois, and one
representative from a nonpublic university that has
participated in articulation agreements with a community
college.
(2) Two persons each from a high school located in

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this State that offers dual credit programs, preferably
from geographically diverse regions, appointed by the
State Superintendent Education.
(3) A person from the State Board of Education
appointed by the State Board of Education, a person from
the Illinois Community College Board appointed by the
Illinois Community College Board, and a person from the
Board of Higher Education appointed by the Board of Higher
Education.
(4) Two members appointed by the Governor.
(5) One member of the House of Representative
appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
one member of the House of Representatives appointed by
the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, one
member of the Senate appointed by the President of the
Senate, and one member of the Senate appointed by the
Minority Leader of the Senate.
Appointments under paragraphs (1) and (2) of this
subsection (a) shall include at least 4 faculty members, a
library professional, an instructional design expert, and 2
academic administrators.
The Board of Higher Education shall provide administrative
and other support to the panel.
The Executive Director of the Board of Higher Education
shall convene the first meeting of the panel no later than
September 1, 2021.

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The panel shall seek to identify initiatives to support
the use of open educational resource materials and make
recommendations to the General Assembly no later than December
31, 2022.
(b) Each campus of a public university or public community
college district shall, upon request of its board of trustees,
do both of the following:
(1) Clearly highlight, by means that may include a
symbol or logo in a conspicuous place on the online campus
course schedule, the courses that exclusively use digital
course materials that are free of charge to students or
that may have a low-cost option for print versions.
(2) Ensure that the materials comply with the federal
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the federal
Copyright Act of 1976.
(c) Subject to appropriation or third-party funding, the
Illinois Community College Board shall establish and
administer a grant program to encourage faculty at
institutions of higher education to adopt, modify, redesign,
or develop courses that use only open educational resources in
support of the degree program set forth in Section 10.
Any individual who receives a grant under this subsection
(c) shall ensure that any open educational resources used in a
course is provided to a student enrolled in the course at no
cost other than the cost of printing.
A faculty member who receives a grant under this

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subsection (c) must submit to the Illinois Community College
Board for each of the 4 semesters immediately following the
implementation of the course a report that includes:
(1) the number of students who have completed the
course;
(2) an estimate of the amount of money saved by a
student due to the use of open educational resources in
the course;
(3) the number of faculty members, if any, who adopted
the course curriculum; and
(4) any other information required as a condition of
the grant.
Section 25. Reporting.
(a) After the first cohort of students complete the pilot
program under Section 10, the State Board of Education,
Illinois Community College Board, and Board of Higher
Education must submit a report to the Governor and General
Assembly detailing the impact of the pilot program on all of
the following:
(1) Reducing the costs of attending an institution of
higher learning and overall student loan debt.
(2) Elevating the importance of coursework in the
classical liberal arts.
(3) Creating a model curriculum that can be replicated
through partnerships between other institutions of higher

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learning and school districts across this State.
(b) This Act is inoperative on and after the State Board of
Education, Illinois Community College Board, and Board of
Higher Education submit the report required under subsection
(a).
Section 90. Rules. The Illinois Community College Board,
in consultation with the State Board of Education and the
Board of Higher Education, must adopt rules to implement this
Act.