AB 647

The bill creates a new grant program administered by the Board of Regents of

the University of Wisconsin System. This program provides grants in the form of

“last-dollar awards” to supplement the gap between any scholarships or grants that

an eligible student receives outside of this program and the full cost of tuition and

segregated fees during either eight consecutive semesters for incoming freshmen or

four consecutive semesters for incoming transfer students. Summer terms are not

counted in the consecutive semester count, and students may not receive the grants

for summer terms. Students eligible for the grants must be new incoming students

enrolled in their first bachelor's degree whose household federal adjusted gross

income is equal to or less than $60,000 a year and must be enrolled in an on-campus

program at a UW System institution other than UW-Madison. The bill requires the

Board of Regents to promulgate rules to implement and administer the grant

program.

The bill also provides additional funding for special education aid the

Department of Public Instruction pays to school districts, independent charter

schools, cooperative educational service agencies, and county children with

disabilities education boards in the amount of $7,520,000 for the 2021-22 fiscal year

and $13,735,000 for the 2022-23 fiscal year, for purposes of maintaining compliance

with maintenance of effort requirements of the federal Consolidated Appropriations

Act and the federal American Rescue Plan Act.