Section 261.2. Duties of commission.

  The commission shall:

  1.  Prepare and administer a state plan for a state supported and administered scholarship program. The state plan shall provide for scholarships to deserving students of Iowa, matriculating in Iowa universities, colleges, community colleges, or schools of professional nursing. Eligibility of a student for receipt of a scholarship shall be based upon academic achievement and completion of advanced level courses prescribed by the commission.

  2.  Administer the tuition grant program under this chapter.

  3.  Develop and implement, in cooperation with the state board of regents, an educational program and marketing strategies designed to inform parents about the options available for financing a college education and the need to accumulate the financial resources necessary to pay for a college education. The educational program shall include but not be limited to distribution of informational material to public and nonpublic elementary schools for distribution to parents and guardians of five-year and six-year old children.

  4.  Approve transfers from the scholarship and tuition grant reserve fund under section 261.20.

  5.  Develop and implement, in cooperation with the judicial district departments of correctional services and the department of corrections, a program to assist criminal offenders in applying for federal and state aid available for higher education.

  6.  Develop and implement, in cooperation with the department of human services and the judicial branch, a program to assist juveniles who are sixteen years of age or older and who have a case permanency plan under chapter 232 or 237 or are otherwise under the jurisdiction of chapter 232 in applying for federal and state aid available for higher education. The commission shall also develop and implement the all Iowa opportunity foster care grant program in accordance with section 261.6.

  7.  a.  Adopt rules to establish reasonable registration standards for the approval, pursuant to section 261B.3A, of postsecondary schools that are required to register with the commission in order to operate in this state. The registration standards established by the commission shall ensure that all of the following conditions are satisfied:

  (1)  The courses, curriculum, and instruction offered by the postsecondary school are of such quality and content as may reasonably and adequately ensure achievement of the stated objective for which the courses, curriculum, or instruction are offered.

  (2)  The postsecondary school has adequate space, equipment, instructional material, and personnel to provide education and training of good quality.

  (3)  The educational and experience qualifications of the postsecondary school’s directors, administrators, and instructors are such as may reasonably ensure that students will receive instruction consistent with the objectives of the postsecondary school’s programs of study.

  (4)  Upon completion of training or instruction, students are given certificates, diplomas, or degrees as appropriate by the postsecondary school indicating satisfactory completion of the program.

  (5)  The postsecondary school is financially responsible and capable of fulfilling commitments for instruction.

  b.  The commission shall post an application on the commission’s internet site and shall render a decision on an application for registration within one hundred eighty days of the filing of the application.

  8.  Submit by January 15 annually a report to the general assembly which provides, by program, the number of individuals who received loan forgiveness in the previous fiscal year, the amount paid to individuals under sections 261.73, 261.112, and 261.116, and the institutions from which individuals graduated, and that includes any proposed statutory changes and the commission’s findings and recommendations.

  9.  Require any postsecondary institution whose students are eligible for or who receive assistance under programs administered by the commission and who were enrolled in a school district in Iowa to include in its student management information system the unique student identifiers assigned to the institution’s students while the students were in the state’s kindergarten through grade twelve system.

  10.  Ensure that students receiving state-funded scholarships and grants are attending institutions of higher education that meet all of the following conditions:

  a.  The institutions are not required to register under chapter 261B or the institutions are participating resident institutions as defined in section 261G.2 that volunteer to register under section 261B.11B.

  b.  The institutions are eligible to participate in a federal student aid program authorized under Tit. IV of the federal Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended.

  11.  Require any postsecondary institution whose students are eligible for or who receive financial assistance under programs administered by the commission to transmit annually to the commission information about the numbers of minority students enrolled in and minority faculty members employed at the institution. The commission shall compile and report the information collected to the general assembly, the governor, and the legislative services agency by March 1 annually.

  12.  Enter into and administer, or recognize, an interstate reciprocity agreement for the provision of postsecondary distance education by a postsecondary institution pursuant to chapter 261G. The commission shall adopt rules establishing application procedures and criteria for the authorization of postsecondary institutions providing postsecondary distance education under interstate reciprocity agreements pursuant to chapter 261G and for the review and approval of interstate reciprocity agreements the commission may enter into or recognize pursuant to this subsection and chapter 261G. The commission may accept an authorization granted by another state to a postsecondary institution under an interstate reciprocity agreement to deliver postsecondary distance education.

[C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §261.2]

83 Acts, ch 101, §60

; 83 Acts, ch 184, §5, 11, 15

; 88 Acts, ch 1003, §1

; 88 Acts, ch 1261, §2

; 88 Acts, ch 1284, §20, 21

; 89 Acts, ch 300, §2

; 90 Acts, ch 1253, §122

; 90 Acts, ch 1272, §45

; 92 Acts, ch 1231, §42

; 92 Acts, ch 1240, §17

; 93 Acts, ch 179, §20

; 95 Acts, ch 70, §1

; 98 Acts, ch 1047, §27

; 2000 Acts, ch 1095, §3

; 2004 Acts, ch 1145, §2

; 2005 Acts, ch 59, §1

; 2007 Acts, ch 214, §24

; 2008 Acts, ch 1181, §31

; 2009 Acts, ch 12, §1, 2

; 2009 Acts, ch 118, §48, 54

; 2009 Acts, ch 177, §24

; 2010 Acts, ch 1031, §314

; 2010 Acts, ch 1147, §8, 13

; 2011 Acts, ch 36, §1

; 2014 Acts, ch 1063, §1, 2

Strike of former subsection 10 by its own terms effective June 30, 2014, probably not intended; corrective legislation is pending