Tryon Bill to Assist Returning Veterans with Mid-Year College Admissions passes committee

A bill that would allow returning servicemen and women to enroll in Illinois public colleges and universities as a freshman during a spring term received unanimous support Thursday from the House of Representatives’ Higher Education Committee.

State Representative Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake), the Chief Sponsor of HB 4627, said he was shocked last year to learn that a constituent who had recently been honorably discharged from the military was denied admission to the University of Illinois-Chicago as a freshman to start in the January term. “Here’s a young man who served his country with honor, and upon his arrival home he was ready to start working on his college degree,” said Tryon. “Because he had missed the deadline to apply for fall admission, he applied to begin his studies in the January term, only to be told freshman could only begin the school year in the fall. I asked the University to change its enrollment procedure to accommodate returning veterans and they refused, so I felt I had to put a law on the books to require our institutions of higher learning to make exceptions for these men and women.” Read more.