Bill
SB 1376
Illinois colleges offering bachelor’s degrees must publish 10 years of cost-of-attendance data online and update it annually.
Status: Enacted (Public Act 104‑0376) — Effective January 1, 2026
Summary
SB 1376 requires Illinois colleges and universities that offer baccalaureate (undergraduate) degrees to make historical and ongoing cost-of-attendance information publicly available on their websites. The law is intended to increase price transparency for students, families, and other education consumers.
Key provisions
- Entities covered: Every public or private Illinois college or university that offers baccalaureate degrees.
- Historical posting requirement: Institutions must post their cost of attendance for each of the 10 academic years immediately preceding the Act’s effective date.
- Ongoing posting requirement: Institutions must post cost-of-attendance information for every academic year thereafter.
- Form 1098‑T delineation: Each posted cost-of-attendance statement must clearly indicate which expenses are included on the IRS Form 1098‑T and which expenses are not included on Form 1098‑T.
- Short title: The law may be cited as the Historical Cost of Attendance Disclosure Act.
Who is affected
- Directly: Illinois colleges and universities that grant baccalaureate degrees (public and private).
- Indirectly: Current and prospective students and families, financial aid offices, college affordability counselors, consumer advocates, and researchers who use institutional price data to compare costs or plan budgets.
- Excluded (implicitly): Institutions that do not offer baccalaureate degrees (e.g., many community colleges), unless they do grant bachelor’s degrees.
Implementation timeline & status
- Enacted as Public Act 104‑0376 and becomes effective January 1, 2026. Institutions will need to compile and publish the required 10 years of historical data and update cost-of-attendance figures annually thereafter.
Practical considerations and likely impacts
- Transparency: The requirement should improve consumers’ ability to compare historical trends in total cost of attendance (tuition/fees, room/board, books, etc.) across institutions.
- Administrative burden: Colleges must assemble and present up to a decade of historical COA data and map each expense to whether it appears on Form 1098‑T — potentially requiring coordination between registrar, bursar, financial aid, and IT offices.
- Ambiguities: The statute does not define “cost of attendance” within the text; institutions will likely use their existing federally defined COA (used for Title IV financial aid and FAFSA) unless further guidance is issued. The law also does not specify enforcement mechanisms, formatting standards, or penalties for noncompliance.
- Tax‑reporting clarity: Requiring a delineation relative to Form 1098‑T may help students understand which charges/scholarship adjustments are reported for tax purposes versus which are excluded.
Sponsors and legislative path
- Introduced in the 104th Illinois General Assembly (SB1376). Enacted as Public Act 104‑0376 (effective Jan 1, 2026).
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
Sign in to ask a question.
