Timpone v. Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n

2019 IL App (1st) 181115

147 N.E.3d 873

439 Ill.Dec. 198

Brian TIMPONE, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.The ILLINOIS STUDENT ASSISTANCE COMMISSION, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-18-1115

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, THIRD DIVISION.

December 11, 2019

Kwame Raoul, Attorney General, of Chicago (Jane Elinor Notz, Solicitor General, and Mary C. Labrec, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel), for appellant.

James J. McQuaid and Jeffrey M. Schwab, of Liberty Justice Center, of Chicago, for appellee.

OPINION

JUSTICE McBRIDE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Brian Timpone filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) ( 5 ILCS 140/3(a) (West 2014)) request with the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC or commission) to obtain the names of all students who received grants in 2015 through the State's Monetary Award Program (MAP), as well as the name of the college or university that each student attended. ISAC routinely distributes statistics that include the name of every school where MAP grants are disbursed, the number of grants, total dollars, and mean recipient income per institution, as well as details about the grants. ISAC cited privacy concerns for withholding the student names from Timpone but produced a spreadsheet aggregating the 2015 MAP grants by city and detailing the total dollar amount and number of recipients for each location. Timpone then filed an action in the circuit court of Cook County to compel the public disclosure of each student's name (see 5 ILCS 140/11(a) (West 2014)), and there he prevailed on cross-motions for summary judgment. The commission appeals the determination that it "improperly" withheld the information and argues that together section 7(1)(a) of FOIA and section 2700.55 of the commission's regulations exempt public disclosure of "personally identifiable information" ( 5 ILCS 140/7(1)(a) (West 2014); 23 Ill. Adm. Code 2700.55 (amended at 38 Ill. Reg. 13356, eff. July 1, 2014), and that section 7(1)(b) of FOIA exempts public disclosure of "[p]rivate information" ( 5 ILCS 140/7(1)(b) (West 2014)). In the event we find either of ISAC's exemption arguments persuasive, we would vacate not only the circuit court's October 2017 summary judgment order but also its May 2018 decision to award Timpone $10,478 based on the FOIA language that entitles a person who "prevails in a proceeding under this Section" to an award of his or her reasonable attorney fees and costs. 5 ILCS 140/11(i) (West 2014). Enforcement of the circuit court orders has been stayed pending this appeal.

¶ 2 ISAC's timely filing of a notice of appeal on May 31, 2018, complied with Illinois Supreme Court Rule 303 (eff. Jan. 1, 2015). Accordingly, we have jurisdiction under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 301 (eff. Feb. 1, 1994).

¶ 3 ISAC administers the financial grant program known as MAP pursuant to the Illinois Higher Education Student Assistance Act. See 110 ILCS 947/35, 20(f) (West 2014); What is MAP ?, Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, https://www.isac.org/home/map-matters/about.html (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/6T64-VM39]. MAP grant money may be offered to residents of Illinois and citizens or permanent residents of the United States who are "deterred by financial considerations" from completing their postsecondary education. 110 ILCS 947/35(a) (West 2014). Initial eligibility is entirely need-based and does not take into account high school grades or test scores, but grant renewals are conditioned on good academic standing. What is MAP ?, Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, https://www.isac.org/home/map-matters/about.html (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/6T64-VM39]; 110 ILCS 947/35(b)(1)-(3) (West 2014).

¶ 4 Students apply for various forms of financial aid, including MAP grants, by disclosing their financial details, as well as their parents' or spouse's financial details, to the United States Department of Education (DOE) on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, which is commonly known as FAFSA. What is MAP? , Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, https://www.isac.org/home/map-matters/about.html (last visited Dec. 3, 2109) [https://perma.cc/6T64-VM39]; see also 23 Ill. Adm. Code 2735.30(a), amended at 37 Ill. Reg. 9528 (eff. July 1, 2013); Dependency Status , Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, https://www.isac.org/students/before-college/financial-aid-planning/completing-the-fafsa/dependency-status.html (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/2XM3-ZYNB]. ISAC's website indicates that "[a]pplicants are automatically considered to be dependent students for financial aid purposes (meaning financial aid eligibility will be determined including parent information) unless they meet the federal definition of an independent student." Dependency Status , Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, https://www.isac.org/students/before-college/financial-aid-planning/completing-the-fafsa/dependency-status.html (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/2XM3-ZYNB]. DOE then shares the individual or family financial data with ISAC. What is MAP? , Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, https://www.isac.org/home/map-matters/about.html (last visited Dec. 3, 2109) [https://perma.cc/6T64-VM39]. Students who list an approved Illinois college on their FAFSA are "automatically" considered for MAP grants. How to Apply , Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, https://www.isac.org/students/during-college/types-of-financial-aid/grants/monetary-award-program/index.html#How_to_Apply) (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/KKT3-Y3EP].

¶ 5 Each student may be granted up to $6468 per academic year ( 110 ILCS 947/35(c)(1) (West 2014)) but MAP funds are "apportioned among otherwise eligible applicants on the basis of relative financial resources and available funds" ( 23 Ill. Adm. Code 2735.10(a) (1998) (summary and purpose of MAP)). In the last five years, "more than 600,000 Illinois students received over $1.8 billion in MAP grants to help them attend college." What is MAP? , Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, https://www.isac.org/home/map-matters/about.html (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/6T64-VM39].

¶ 6 ISAC routinely divulges detailed statistics about MAP disbursements and the recipients of those funds. ISAC maintains an annual "Data Book" on its website in which the State agency specifies each year's appropriation history and the formula used to grant or deny that year's applications. See, e.g. , 2015 Data Book , Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, https://www.isac.org/e-library/research-policy-analysis/data-book/2015-data-book.html (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/JB7B-4NC9]. ISAC also compiles numerous tables of statistics about each year's disbursements. MAP disbursements are, for instance, reported in the Data Book by type of educational program, including all schools, public four-year institutions, private nonprofit institutions, and so forth. See 2015 Data Book , Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, https://www.isac.org/e-library/research-policy-analysis/data-book/2015-data-book.html (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/JB7B-4NC9]. ISAC then specifies each institution's tuition and fees, MAP receipts, average award, and number of MAP recipients. See 2015 Data Book , Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, https://www.isac.org/e-library/research-policy-analysis/data-book/2015-data-book.html (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/JB7B-4NC9]. ISAC also discloses the mean income per recipient and the mean income per denied applicant at each school. Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, Average Income by Dependency Status, http://www.isac.org/e-library/research-policy-analysis/data-book/documents/2015-data-book/2015DataBookTable2.3d.pdf (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/EKT6-MWFX]. The tables for fiscal year 2015 indicate, for instance, that the mean income of parents of all eligible dependent students was $30,652 and the mean income of parents whose dependent children used MAP dollars to attend public four-year schools was $33,098. Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, Average Income by Dependency Status, http://www.isac.org/e-library/research-policy-analysis/data-book/documents/2015-data-book/2015DataBookTable2.3d.pdf (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/EKT6-MWFX]. Within the data about public four-year schools, it is disclosed that parents whose dependent children used MAP dollars to attend University of Illinois-Urbana had a mean income of $38,170 and parents whose dependent children used MAP dollars to attend Chicago State University had a mean income of $20,682. Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, Average Income by Dependency Status, http://www.isac.org/e-library/research-policy-analysis/data-book/documents/2015-data-book/2015DataBookTable2.3d.pdf (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/EKT6-MWFX]. The corresponding income figures for independent students receiving MAP grants in fiscal year 2015 were $16,268 for all recipients, $14,610 for recipients who attended public four-year schools, $9338 for recipients who attended University of Illinois-Urbana, and $12,575 for recipients who attended Chicago State University. Ill. Student Assistance Comm'n, Average Income by Dependency Status, http://www.isac.org/e-library/research-policy-analysis/data-book/documents/2015-data-book/2015DataBookTable2.3d.pdf (last visited Dec. 3, 2019) [https://perma.cc/EKT6-MWFX]. Thus, ISAC publicly discloses how it handles MAP dollars, and it divulges detailed data about the income of MAP grant recipients.

¶ 7 In May 2016, Timpone submitted a FOIA request by e-mail, seeking the name of every student who received a 2015 MAP grant, as well as the name of his or her college or university and home address. After ISAC declined to disclose "private information" or "personal financial information," Timpone amended his request to seek the home cities or zip codes of each student, rather than his or her home address. We note that it was unclear from Timpone's e-mail whether he meant to abandon his...