Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 44, November 2, 2024
(a) To be eligible for a State higher
education grant, an applicant shall enroll in a program approved under §
121.33 (relating to approved
program of study in higher education grant program) and shall attend an
institution of higher education approved by the Agency for enrollment of grant
recipients under the State Higher Education Grant Program
(b) To be approved, an institution shall be
other than a school of theology or a theological seminary as determined by the
Agency, be located in the United States or any of its territories and comply
with the following:
(1) If the institution is
a college or university located within this Commonwealth, the institution shall
be approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and shall be accredited
or a recognized candidate for accreditation with an accrediting body recognized
by the United States Department of Education or the Council for Higher
Education Accreditation and its successors; if the college or university is
located outside this Commonwealth, the institution shall be degree-granting,
shall be operated not-for-profit, shall be legally authorized to do business by
the appropriate state licensing or approval authority in the state in which it
is doing business and shall be fully accredited by an accrediting body
recognized by the United States Department of Education or the regional
institutional accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education
Accreditation and its successors responsible for accreditation in the state
where the college or university is conducting its educational
program.
(2) If the institution is
a hospital school of nursing located within this Commonwealth, the institution
shall be initially, provisionally or fully approved by the Pennsylvania State
Board of Nursing and shall be accredited by the National League for Nursing
Accrediting Commission, the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education or other
accrediting body recognized by the United States Department of Education for
the accreditation of nursing schools; if located outside this Commonwealth, the
institution shall be legally authorized to do business by the appropriate state
licensing or approval authority in the state in which it is doing business and
shall be accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission,
the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education or any other accrediting body
recognized by the United States Department of Education for the accreditation
of nursing schools.
(3) If the
institution is a trade, technical or business school located within this
Commonwealth, the institution shall be approved by the Pennsylvania Department
of Education or shall currently be, and shall have been throughout the
preceding 24 months, licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private
Licensed Schools and shall be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by
the United States Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education
Accreditation and its successors, except that this requirement for licensure
and accreditation may be waived by the President and Chief Executive Officer
for branch campuses of an institution that have been operating satisfactorily
in this Commonwealth for 2 years or more; if the institution is located outside
this Commonwealth, it shall be degree-granting, shall be operated
not-for-profit and shall be fully accredited by the United States Department of
Education or the regional institutional accrediting body recognized by the
Council for Higher Education Accreditation and its successors responsible for
accreditation in the state where the institution is conducting its educational
program.
(4) The institution shall
have executed an Assurance of Compliance with section 602 of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C.A. §
2000d-1 (1974)) and filed it with the United
States Secretary of Education.
(5)
The institution shall have executed and filed with the Agency an agreement on a
form provided by the Agency to report or advise the Agency if the institution
has knowledge of the name and address of Commonwealth resident students who are
recipients of Agency-administered aid who have been convicted in a court of
record of a criminal offense which under the laws of the United States or of
the Commonwealth would constitute a felony committed after October 29, 1969.
Institutional knowledge shall be facts contained in the academic, disciplinary
or financial student records of the institution or facts known to persons
occupying positions of authority such as the dean of students, director of
financial aid or president of the institution.
(6) When a change in ownership of an approved
institution occurs, the new owner shall notify the Agency in writing of the
change in ownership within 30 days of the effective date of the change. The new
owner shall execute and file with the Agency an agreement on a form provided by
the Agency to assume responsibility for repayment of State grant funds to the
Agency or payment of State grant funds to eligible students, as designated by
the Agency, made necessary by the failure of the previous owner to follow
Agency procedures and requirements. An institution that fails to execute this
agreement will be required to wait 24 months before being considered for
approval in the State Grant Program.
(7) The institution shall comply with other
administrative requirements as the Agency may legally promulgate, as shall be
set forth in the State Grant Certification Procedures and the State Grant
Program Policy Manual which will be made available to institutions on an annual
basis.
(c) Approved
institutions for an academic year shall be those on record as of the preceding
August 1 for the ensuing academic year.
(d) Approval of an institution after August 1
will become effective the following August 1 with two exceptions:
(1) To be effective for the ensuing summer
term, approval shall be obtained prior to May 1.
(2) In the light of the particular
circumstances related to the institution's approval and the funding and
application processing conditions of the Agency, the President and Chief
Executive Officer may make the approval effective on a date prior to August
1.
(e) The President and
Chief Executive Officer may suspend the processing of aid request forms of
State grant applicants or cease further disbursement of State grant funds to an
approved institution, or both, when, in the judgment of the President and Chief
Executive Officer, the institution's compliance with the conditions required
for approval or the institution's continued eligibility or operation is in
question and the action is deemed necessary to protect the interests of the
student aid applicants, the Commonwealth or the Agency. This subsection may
also be invoked upon a change in ownership, administration or directorship of
the institution.
(f) An
institution's approved status may be terminated by the President and Chief
Executive Officer when any of the conditions required for approval cease to be
met.
(g) In suspending or
withdrawing the approval of an institution, the President and Chief Executive
Officer may authorize continuation of eligibility determination and grant
disbursement for State grant renewal applicants.
The provisions of this §121.32 amended under section 4 of
the act of August 7, 1963 (P. L. 549, No. 290) (24 P. S. §
5104); sections 1 and 6(e) of the act of
January 25, 1966 (P. L. 1546, No. 541) (24 P. S. §§
5151 and
5156(e)); The Institutional
Assistance Grants Act (24 P. S. §§ 5181-5189); the Urban and Rural Teacher Loan
Forgiveness Act (24 P. S. §§ 5191-5197); and
the Agriculture Education Loan Forgiveness Act (24 P. S. §§ 5198.1-5198.7).
This section cited in 22 Pa. Code §
121.33 (relating to approved
program of study in higher education grant program); and 22 Pa. Code §
121.151 (relating to application
of existing Agency regulations).
