HIGHER ED ENROLLMENT FRAUD ACT

Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB4229

Select Language

×

The Illinois General Assembly offers the Google Translate™ service for visitor convenience. In no way should it be considered accurate as to the translation of any content herein.

Visitors of the Illinois General Assembly website are encouraged to use other translation services available on the internet.

The English language version is always the official and authoritative version of this website.

NOTE: To return to the original English language version, select the "Show Original" button on the Google Translate™ menu bar at the top of the window.

Choose Language

English

Afrikaans

Albanian

Arabic

Armenian

Azerbaijani

Basque

Bengali

Bosnian

Catalan

Croatian

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Esperanto

Estonian

Filipino

Finnish

French

Galician

Georgian

German

Greek

Gujarati

Haitian Creole

Hausa

Hawaiian

Hebrew

Hindi

Hungarian

Icelandic

Indonesian

Interlingua

Interlingue

Inuktitut

Irish

Italian

Japanese

Javanese

Kannada

Khmer

Korean

Latin

Latvian

Lithuanian

Luxembourgish

Macedonian

Malagasy

Malayalam

Maltese

Maori

Marathi

Myanmar

Nepali

Norwegian

Odia

Pashto

Punjabi

Romanian

Russian

Samoan

Sango

Sanskrit

Sardinian

Sindhi

Sinhala

Slovak

Slovenian

Somali

Southern Sotho

Spanish

Sundanese

Swahili

Swedish

Tamil

Telugu

Thai

Tigrinya

Tonga

Turkish

Ukrainian

Urdu

Vietnamese

Welsh

Xhosa

Yiddish

Yoruba

Zulu

Powered by
Translate

Close

Illinois General Assembly

Top Navigation Bar

Translate

Learn

Select General Assembly

Search the 104th General Assembly

Enter search terms for legislation, members, committees, or schedules.

ILGA.GOV

LEGISLATION & LAWS

Bills & Resolutions

Public Acts

Illinois Compiled Statutes

Illinois Constitution

Search Legislation

Glossary

Guide

Reports & Inquiry

Legislative Reports

Special Reports

FTP Site

Legislator Lookup

Capitol Complex Phone Numbers

Rules & Regulations

Illinois Register

Administrative Rules

Senate

Members

Schedules

Committees

Request for Remote Testimony

Journals

Transcripts

Rules

Audio/Video

FOIA Information

Senate Employment Opportunities

Media Guidelines

House

Members

Schedules

Committees

Submit testimony for House Committees

Journals

Transcripts

Rules

Audio/Video

FOIA Information

House Employment Opportunities

Log In

Mobile Top Bar

Search the 104th General Assembly

Enter keywords to search the Illinois General Assembly website.

Full Text of HB4229

Home

Legislation

Full Text

HB4229 - 104th General Assembly

Bill Status

Full Text

Votes

Witness Slips

Select Menu

Bill Status

Full Text

Votes

Witness Slips

Printer Friendly Version

Introduced

Printer Friendly Version

Introduced

Open PDF

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB4229

Introduced 1/14/2026, by Rep. Katie Stuart

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Higher Education Enrollment Fraud Act. Requires the Board
of Higher Education to convene a working group to develop policies and
procedures for institutions of higher education to prevent fraudulent
enrollment in online courses for the purpose of gaining access to
financial aid, campus information technology systems, and student support
services. Requires each institution of higher education to complete an
annual cybersecurity self-assessment of its information technology
infrastructure to determine its Information Technology Laboratory score
and annually report local and systemwide technology and data security
measures that support improved oversight of fraud mitigation, online
learning quality, and cybersecurity efforts to the Board. Requires the
self-assessment and report to be submitted to the Board by December 15,
2026 and each December 15 thereafter and the Board to compile a report of
these submissions and submit that report to the General Assembly by
January 15, 2027 and each January 15 thereafter. Includes other
information an institution of higher education must submit related to
enrollment fraud. Effective immediately.
LRB104 16470 LNS 29865 b
STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT
MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

HB4229
LRB104 16470 LNS 29865 b
1

AN ACT concerning education.

2

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3
represented in the General Assembly:

4

Section 1.
Short title.
This Act may be cited as the
Higher
5
Education Enrollment Fraud Act.

6

Section 5.
Definition.
As used in this Act, "institution
7
of higher education" means any public or private college or
8
university located in this State, including a public community
9
college.

10

Section 10.
Enrollment fraud working group.
11

(a) The Board of Higher Education shall convene a working
12
group, consisting of representatives the Board deems
13
necessary, to develop policies and procedures for institutions
14
of higher education to prevent fraudulent enrollment in online
15
courses for the purpose of gaining access to financial aid,
16
campus information technology systems, and student support
17
services. The Board shall submit a report of its findings to
18
the General Assembly by January 15, 2027.
19

(b) This Section is repealed on January 15, 2028.

20

Section 15.
Required self-assessment.
21

(a) Each institution of higher education shall complete an

HB4229
- 2 -
LRB104 16470 LNS 29865 b
1
annual cybersecurity self-assessment of its information
2
technology infrastructure to determine its Information
3
Technology Laboratory score and annually report local and
4
systemwide technology and data security measures that support
5
improved oversight of fraud mitigation, online learning
6
quality, and cybersecurity efforts to the Board of Higher
7
Education. The self-assessment shall include, but not be
8
limited to, the following information:
9

(1) the amount of fraudulent student enrollments
10

reported since the COVID-19 pandemic that began in March
11

2020 or since the previous self-assessment;
12

(2) the percentage of fraudulent enrollments among
13

total enrollments;
14

(3) any trends or patterns that can be identified in
15

fraudulent enrollments, including preferred course types,
16

such as online, in-person, or hybrid;
17

(4) the amount of financial aid that has been
18

disbursed to fraudulent students annually since the
19

COVID-19 pandemic that began in March 2020 or since the
20

previous self-assessment;
21

(5) the estimated financial loss due to fraudulent
22

enrollments;
23

(6) the specific costs associated with fraud
24

prevention, including systemwide expenditures on
25

cybersecurity, admissions verification, and
26

administrative oversight;

HB4229
- 3 -
LRB104 16470 LNS 29865 b
1

(7) how fraudulent enrollments have impacted the
2

distribution of State funding to the institution of higher
3

education;
4

(8) any strategies the institution of higher education
5

has implemented to detect and prevent fraudulent
6

enrollments;
7

(9) any barriers that prevent the institution of
8

higher education from effectively addressing fraudulent
9

enrollments;
10

(10) if any classes have been canceled due to
11

fraudulent enrollments failing to meet minimum student
12

thresholds;
13

(11) if fraudulent enrollments contribute to
14

inefficient resource allocation, including offering
15

unnecessary course sections;
16

(12) the effectiveness of any systemwide fraud
17

mitigation strategies used to reduce fraudulent
18

enrollments;
19

(13) if the Board of Higher Education or the
20

institution of higher education's governing body has
21

provided sufficient guidance and support to combat fraud;
22

(14) any additional policies or resources needed to
23

address the ongoing threat of fraudulent enrollments; and
24

(15) the impact on real students, including whether
25

real students are prevented from getting classes due to
26

fraudulent students.

HB4229
- 4 -
LRB104 16470 LNS 29865 b
1

The self-assessment and report shall be submitted to the
2
Board of Higher Education by December 15, 2026 and each
3
December 15 thereafter, and the Board shall compile a report
4
of these submissions and submit that report to the General
5
Assembly by January 15, 2027 and each January 15 thereafter.
6

(b) In addition to the self-assessment in subsection (a),
7
each institution of higher education shall submit to the Board
8
of Higher Education:
9

(1) a remediation update twice per year, for the fall
10

and spring semesters, on vulnerability and other issues
11

identified in the most recent self-assessment;
12

(2) a detailed after-action report of all
13

cybersecurity incidents that either led to a breach of
14

personally identifiable information or led to the
15

disruption of services, including, but not limited to, a
16

breach of student identification numbers, distributed
17

denial-of-service attacks, and ransomware;
18

(3) a report of the total number of admission
19

applications received that are determined to be
20

fraudulent, including applications considered to be likely
21

fraudulent, on an annual basis; and
22

(4) information that was requested on suspected
23

fraudulent enrollments and the fraudulent receipt of
24

financial aid, on an annual basis.
25

The Board of Higher Education shall compile an annual
26
report of these submissions and submit the report to the

HB4229
- 5 -
LRB104 16470 LNS 29865 b
1
General Assembly.
2

(c) If the self-assessment and reporting required under
3
subsection (a) or the submissions required under subsection
4
(b) are duplicative of other information provided by an
5
institution of higher education to the Board of Higher
6
Education, the institution of higher education may submit that
7
information in lieu of the self-assessment and reporting
8
required under subsection (a) or the submissions required
9
under subsection (b).

10

Section 99.
Effective date.
This Act takes effect upon
11
becoming law.

Footer

Disclaimer

This site is maintained for the Illinois General Assembly by the
Legislative Information System, 705 Stratton Building, Springfield, Illinois 62706.

Contact ILGA Webmaster

ILGA.gov uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to browse ILGA.gov you consent to our use of cookies.
Read About Cookies

ILGA.GOV

2026 ILGA.gov | All Rights Reserved |
ADA

|
Disclaimers
|
Learn

This site is maintained for the Illinois General Assembly by the
Legislative Information System, 705 Stratton Building, Springfield, Illinois 62706.
Contact ILGA Webmaster

ILGA.gov uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to browse ILGA.gov you consent to our use of cookies.
Read About Cookies

ILGA.GOV

2026 ILGA.gov | All Rights Reserved |
ADA

|
Disclaimers
|
Learn