Bill Text: NJ A4050 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Directs Higher Education Student Assistance Authority to forgive certain student loans in the event of student borrower death or total and permanent disability and grant deferment for temporary total disability.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-09-08 - Combined with A2761/4051 (ACS) [A4050 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-A4050-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ANDREW ZWICKER
District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)
SYNOPSIS
Directs Higher Education Student Assistance Authority to forgive certain student loans in the event of student borrower's death or total and permanent disability and grant deferment for temporary total disability.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the New Jersey College Loans to Assist State Students (NJCLASS) Loan Program and supplementing chapter 71C of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. In the event of the death of an eligible student borrower under the NJCLASS Loan Program, the authority shall fully discharge the obligation of the student borrower and a parent or guardian who cosigned the loan.
b. The executor or administrator of the student borrower's estate shall provide written notification to the authority of the student borrower's death and shall provide the authority with a certified copy of the death certificate within 120 days of the student's borrower's death.
2. a. In the event that an eligible student borrower under the NJCLASS Loan Program becomes totally and permanently disabled, the authority shall fully discharge the obligation of the student borrower and a parent or guardian who cosigned the loan. To qualify for the loan discharge the student borrower shall provide the authority with a written statement from a physician, who is a doctor of medicine or osteopathy and is legally authorized to practice, certifying that the student borrower is totally and permanently disabled.
b. As used in this section, "totally and permanently disabled" means the condition of a student borrower who is unable to work and earn money or attend school because of an injury or illness that is expected to continue indefinitely or result in death. A student borrower shall be considered totally and permanently disabled even if the student borrower continues to receive an equal or greater amount of income from the source of income that was used to meet the minimum income requirements at the time the loan was approved.
3. a. In the event that an eligible student borrower under the NJCLASS Loan Program becomes temporarily totally disabled, the authority shall grant a deferment of payment of loan principal and interest. To qualify for the loan deferment, the student borrower shall provide the authority with a written statement from a physician, who is a doctor of medicine or osteopathy and is legally authorized to practice, certifying that the student borrower is temporarily totally disabled. The deferment shall begin on the date that the student borrower's temporary total disability is certified to begin and shall end on the date that the eligible student's temporary total disability is certified to end. Interest on the loan shall not accrue during the period of deferment.
b. As used in this section, "temporary total disability" means that the student borrower is unable to work and earn money or attend school during the period needed to recover from the injury or illness. A student borrower shall be considered temporarily totally disabled even if the student borrower continues to receive an equal or greater amount of income from the source of income that was used to meet the minimum income requirements at the time the loan was approved.
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill directs the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) to forgive student loans offered through the New Jersey College Loans to Assist State Students (NJCLASS) Loan Program in the event of a student borrower's death or total and permanent disability.
The bill provides that in the event of the student borrower's death or total and permanent disability, HESAA must fully discharge the obligation of the student borrower and a parent or guardian who cosigned the loan. In the case of the death of a student borrower, the executor or administrator of the student's estate must provide HESAA with a certified copy of the student's death certificate within 120 days of the death. In the case of a student borrower who becomes totally and permanently disabled, the student must provide HESAA with a written statement from a licensed physician certifying that the student borrower is totally and permanently disabled.
The bill also requires HESAA to grant a deferment of payment of loan principal and interest in the event that a student borrower becomes temporarily totally disabled. The deferment will begin on the date that the student borrower's temporary total disability is certified to begin and will end on the date that the temporary total disability is certified to end. Written certification of the temporary total disability will be provided by a licensed physician. Interest on the loan will not accrue during the period of deferment.
