Bill Text: NJ A5102 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes Higher Education Student Assistance Authority Review Task Force to study implementation of New Jersey College Loans to Assist State Students (NJCLASS) Loan Program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-07-13 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Higher Education Committee [A5102 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-A5102-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ANNETTE QUIJANO
District 20 (Union)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes Higher Education Student Assistance Authority Review Task Force to study implementation of New Jersey College Loans to Assist State Students (NJCLASS) Loan Program.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act establishing a Higher Education Student Assistance Authority Review Task Force.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is established a Higher Education Student Assistance Authority Review Task Force. The purpose of the task force shall be to study and evaluate the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority's implementation of the New Jersey College Loans to Assist State Students (NJCLASS) Loan Program and to make recommendations on restructuring or phasing-out the loan program.
b. The task force shall consist of the following 13 members:
(1) the Secretary of Higher Education, ex-officio, or a designee;
(2) four members appointed by the Governor including the president of a public research university, or a designee, the president of a State college or university established pursuant to chapter 64 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes, or a designee, a student enrolled in a public or independent institution of higher education who is an NJCLASS loan borrower, and a parent or guardian who cosigned an NJCLASS loan;
(3) four members appointed by the President of the Senate including the president of an independent institution of higher education, or a designee, a financial aid administrator employed at a public institution of higher education, and two public members, one upon the recommendation of the Minority Leader of the Senate; and
(4) four members appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly including the president of a county college, or a designee, a financial aid administrator employed at an independent institution of higher education, and two public members, one upon the recommendation of the Minority Leader of the General Assembly.
c. Appointments to the task force shall be made within 30 days of the effective date of this act. Vacancies in the membership of the task force shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments were made. Members of the task force shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as members of the task force within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the task force for its purposes.
2. The task force shall
organize as soon as practicable following the appointment of its members, but
no later than 60 days after the effective date of this act. The task force
shall choose a chairperson from among its members and shall appoint a secretary
who need not be a member of the task force.
3. The Office of the Secretary of Higher Education shall provide such stenographic, clerical, and other administrative assistants, and such professional staff as the task force requires to carry out its work. The task force also shall be entitled to call to its assistance and avail itself of the services of the employees of any State, county, or municipal department, board, bureau, commission, or agency as it may require and as may be available for its purposes.
4. It shall be the duty of the task force to study and evaluate the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority's implementation of the New Jersey College Loans to Assist State Students (NJCLASS) Loan Program. The task force shall focus on evaluating:
a. if the purpose of the NJCLASS Loan Program to facilitate the higher education of New Jersey's students is inhibited by the manner in which the program is funded through the issuance of bonds of the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority;
b. if the necessity of making payments to the bondholders as established in the bond covenants has prohibited the authority from extending program features to borrowers, such as income-contingent loan repayment and loan rehabilitation, that would ease the burden of student debt and assist borrowers in making timely and affordable loan repayments;
c. if another source of funding is available or feasible to support the NJCLASS Loan Program; and
d. in light of some of the difficulties and issues borrowers have identified, if the State should phase-out or eliminate the NJCLASS Loan Program.
5. The task force shall issue a report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the General Assembly, no later than six months after the task force organizes.
6. This act shall take effect immediately, and the task force shall expire 30 days after the issuance of its final report.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a 13-member task force, the Higher Education Student Assistance Review Task Force, to study and evaluate the authority's implementation of the New Jersey College Loans to Assist State Students (NJCLASS) Loan Program. The task force will consist of the Secretary of Higher Education, or a designee, and four members appointed by the Governor, four members appointed by the Senate President, and four members appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly. The appointed members will include presidents of institutions of higher education in the different higher education sectors, financial aid administrators, a student who is an NJCLASS loan borrower, a parent or guardian who has cosigned an NJCLASS loan, and four public members.
Under the bill, the task force will focus on the following:
(1) if the purpose of the NJCLASS Loan Program to facilitate the higher education of New Jersey's students is inhibited by the manner in which the program is funded through the issuance of bonds of the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority;
(2) if the necessity of making payments to the bondholders as established in the bond covenants has prohibited the authority from extending program features to borrowers, such as income-contingent loan repayment and loan rehabilitation, that would ease the burden of student debt and assist borrowers in making timely and affordable loan repayments;
(3) if another source of funding is available or feasible to support the NJCLASS Loan Program; and
(4) in light of some of the difficulties and issues borrowers have identified, if the State should phase-out or eliminate the NJCLASS Loan Program.
The task force is required to issue a report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the General Assembly within six months of its organization which contains its findings and recommendations.
