A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT UPPER TAX BRACKET TAXPAYERS ARE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE ONLY FIFTY PERCENT OF THE LEGISLATIVE TUITION GRANT, to require the state education assistance authority to document the number of full‑time equivalent undergraduate students enrolled in private institutions and the state funds collected by those institutions for those students, to authorize the state education assistance authority and the secretary of administration to request an audit of any institution that fails to adhere to the rules for the administration of the legislative tuition grants, to clarify that the general assembly does not intend for private COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES to "BUNDLe" THE LEGISLATIVE TUITION GRANTS AND PROVIDe THOSE GRANTS TO A SELECT FEW STUDENTS, and to authorize the state education assistance authority to charge a fee to private institutions for administering the legislative tuition grants.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 116‑21.2 is amended by adding the following new subsections to read:
"(f)	Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the tuition subsidy authorized by this section for a student enrolled or to be enrolled at a private institution is limited as provided by this subsection. If a student is, or can be claimed as a dependent by, an upper tax bracket taxpayer, then the amount provided for that student as a tuition subsidy under subsection (b) of this section for a student who is enrolled or to be enrolled at a private institution is reduced by fifty percent (50%).
(g)	The following definitions apply in this section:
(1)	Code. – Defined in G.S. 105-228.90.
(2)	Dependent. – A person for whom the taxpayer is allowed to deduct a personal exemption under section 151(c) of the Code.
(3)	Upper tax bracket taxpayer. – A taxpayer whose taxable income under the Code exceeds the applicable amount provided in the table below:

Filing Status	Taxable Income
Married filing jointly/Surviving Spouse	$100,000
Head of Household	80,000
Single	60,000
Married filing separately	50,000."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 116‑21.2 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(c1)	The State Education Assistance Authority shall document the number of full‑time equivalent North Carolina undergraduate students that are enrolled in private institutions and the State funds collected by each institution pursuant to this section for those students. The State Education Assistance Authority shall report those findings to the Secretary of Administration, the State Auditor, and the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee. Either the State Education Assistance Authority or the Secretary of Administration may request the State Auditor to examine an approved institution if the institution does not adhere to rules adopted by the State Education Assistance Authority for the administration of this grant."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 116‑21.3 is amended by adding the following new subsection to read:
"(e)	It is the intent of the General Assembly that legislative tuition grants be provided in addition to any other financial aid a private institution may distribute to students. The General Assembly further does not intend for legislative tuition grants to be combined to create sums that exceed the amount granted to full-time students as legislative tuition grants and then distributed to only a few students selected by a private institution."
SECTION 4.  G.S. 116‑204 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(1a)	To charge and collect a fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00) from each private institution that receives a legislative tuition grant on behalf of a student to assist with the cost to the Authority of administering the legislative tuition grant program."
SECTION 5.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2003.