261.2 - DUTIES OF COMMISSION.
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 may require a school seeking registration
under chapter 261B to provide copies of its application to the Iowa
coordinating council for post-high school education. The commission
may consider comments from the council that are received by the
commission within ninety days of the filing of the application.
However, if the council meets to consider comments for submission to
the commission, the meeting shall be open to the public and subject
to the provisions of chapter 21. The commission 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 261.23, 261.73, and 261.112, 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. Administer the health care professional incentive payment
program established in section 261.128 and the nursing workforce
shortage initiative created in section 261.129. This subsection is
repealed June 30, 2014. Section History: Early Form
[C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 261.2] Section History: Recent Form
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
Referred to in § 232.2 Footnotes
Implementation of subsection 10 conditioned upon availability of
funding; 2009 Acts, ch 118, §54