AB 697

Under current law, the Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) administers

the Academic Excellence Higher Education Scholarship Program under which

HEAB awards scholarships to certain scholars, designated on the basis of grade

point average, who enroll, on a full-time basis, in a public or private institution of

higher education in this state. Under the program, an academic excellence higher

education scholarship recipient is exempt from up to $2,250 in tuition and fees for

each academic year that the recipient is enrolled full time, maintains at least a 3.000

grade point average, and makes satisfactory progress toward an associate or a

bachelor's degree or a vocational diploma.

Currently, those scholarships may be awarded: 1) to the senior with the highest

grade point average from each high school in this state enrolling at least 80 but fewer

than 500 pupils; 2) to the two seniors with the two highest grade point averages from

each high school in this state enrolling at least 500 but fewer than 1,000 pupils; 3)

to the three seniors with the three highest grade point averages from each high

school in this state enrolling at least 1,000 but fewer than 1,500 pupils; 4) to the four

seniors with the four highest grade point averages from each high school in this state

enrolling at least 1,500 but fewer than 2,000 pupils; 5) to the five seniors with the

five highest grade point averages from each high school in this state enrolling at least

2,000 but fewer than 2,500 pupils; and 6) to the six seniors with the six highest grade

point averages from each high school in this state enrolling 2,500 or more pupils. In

addition, those scholarships may be awarded to the senior with the highest grade

point average from the school operated by the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and

Visually Impaired (WCBVI) and the school operated by the Wisconsin Educational

Services Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (WESPDHH) and not more than

ten scholarships statewide may be awarded to seniors with the highest grade point

averages from high schools enrolling fewer than 80 pupils.

This bill increases the amount of an academic excellence higher education

scholarship for a scholarship recipient attending a public institution of higher

education to 50 percent of the tuition and fees at that institution and increases the

amount of such a scholarship for a scholarship recipient attending a private

institution of higher education to 50 percent of the tuition and fees charged a resident

undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison).

The bill also creates a nonrefundable individual income tax credit for a

scholarship recipient who graduates from an institution within the University of

Wisconsin System, a technical college district school, or a private institution of

higher education with a bachelor's degree, an associate degree, or vocational diploma

and who resides and works in this state.

The amount for which an individual may claim a credit, which is defined as an

"eligible amount," is an amount equal to 50 percent of all tuition and fees charged one

full-time student by the institution or school attended by the scholarship recipient