Chambana Sun

The Illinois Senate recently passed legislation co-sponsored by State Senator Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) that would focus on keeping the statewide pilot program “Aim High” a permanent fixture.

“This program and its expansion are results of bipartisan and bicameral cooperation between the members of the higher education working group, of which I am a member,” Rose said via a release on his website. “I am honored to have played an important role in not just creating what has become a very popular tool for keeping Illinois’ best and brightest in state, but now expanding and making it permanent. Before AIM HIGH, our universities had been at an extreme disadvantage in terms of keeping Illinois’ top graduating high school seniors in Illinois. AIM HIGH offers them an important recruiting and retention tool, and it also helps to stem the ongoing brain drain caused by top-tier students leaving the state.”

The bill that Rose referred to is House Bill 301, which passed both legislative chambers on May 24. Within the text of the bill, changes included removal of references to a pilot program. It requires public universities to allow qualified full-time undergraduate students to apply for a grant through the program. It also requires that “a public university in which an average of at least 49% of the students seeking a bachelor's degree or certificate received a Pell Grant over the prior 3 academic years shall match 35%, instead of 20%, of the amount of funds awarded in a given academic year with non-loan financial aid for eligible students.” The bill was pre-filed by State Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch on Dec. 5, 2022.

According to a press release by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office, the 2023-2024 fiscal year budget included an additional $15 million in funds for the Aim High grant program. This program is not new, as House Bill 2505 was signed by Pritzker on April 4, 2019 to strengthen Aim High. 

At that signing ceremony, Pritzker said: “The legislation I'm about to sign takes an important step forward in solidifying and improving this program. It allows our schools to keep any remaining [Aim High] funds at the end of the fiscal year. This will provide schools with the flexibility they need to use funds as effectively and efficiently as possible. Instead of losing out on leftover funds, our universities will be able to put them back into the program in future years or look to make improvements in how they run their program.”

In Rose’s news release on May 25 he explained that he had proposed the concept years before and that it would have expired in 2024. The name of the program was inspired by a principal of Sen. Rose’s, who had a license plate reading “Aim High.”

“To see my dream not just come to reality, but now be made permanent and be expanded to serve even more Illinois students and families, is a pretty special moment for me,” Rose said in the release. “College costs are way too high, and we are losing too many kids out of state. Aim High will, at least, add one more arrow to our public four-year universities’ quivers to attract and retain students here in Illinois.”