Bill Text: NJ S1072 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Applies provisions of "New Jersey College Student and Parent Consumer Information Act" to proprietary schools and independent institutions of higher education and limits eligibility for State student assistance programs.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-30 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Higher Education Committee [S1072 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-S1072-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH P. CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
SYNOPSIS
Applies provisions of "New Jersey College Student and Parent Consumer Information Act" to proprietary schools and independent institutions of higher education and limits eligibility for State student assistance programs.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning proprietary schools and independent institutions of higher education, amending P.L.2009, c.197, and supplementing chapter 3B of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 2 of P.L.2009, c.197 (C.18A:3B-44) is amended to read as follows:
2. a. A four-year [public] institution of higher education and a proprietary school which has been authorized to offer licensed degree programs shall provide for public inspection on its website comprehensive information on the cost of attendance, the graduation rates of admitted students, and the faculty of the institution. The purpose of the information shall be to maximize the awareness of students and their families of the costs associated with enrollment in the institution or school, the institution's or school's success in ensuring the graduation of its students, and the composition of the teaching faculty that a student will encounter in his coursework. The institution or school shall post, and annually update, a student consumer information report on its website that includes, if applicable:
(1) overall four-year and six-year graduation rates;
(2) four-year and six-year graduation rates by demographic group;
(3) four-year and six-year graduation rates by major;
(4) four-year and six-year graduation rates for student-athletes;
(5) the student transfer rate;
(6) an overview of the institutions to which former students of that [college or university] institution or school have transferred prior to the completion of a degree;
(7) the cost for the current academic year of attending the institution or school including tuition, student fees, room and board, and books and materials;
(8) a description of the types of financial assistance offered directly by the institution or school to both student-athletes and to students who do not participate in athletic programs at the institution or school ;
(9) the percent of student-athletes who receive financial assistance directly from the institution or school and the average value of the assistance and the percent of students who do not participate in athletic programs at the institution or school who receive financial assistance directly from the institution or school and the average value of the assistance;
(10) the total projected cost for an incoming freshman to live on campus and complete a degree in four years and the total projected cost for an incoming freshman to commute to school and complete a degree in four years;
(11) the total projected cost for an incoming freshman to live on campus and complete a degree in six years and the total projected cost for an incoming freshman to commute to school and complete a degree in six years;
(12) average student loan indebtedness of four-year graduates for both students who live on campus and students who commute;
(13) average student loan indebtedness of six-year graduates for both students who live on campus and students who commute;
(14) average student loan indebtedness of a student who withdraws from the institution or school prior to the completion of a degree program for both students who live on campus and students who commute;
(15) an overview of the institution's or school's faculty, including the percentage of faculty employed as a tenured professor, the percentage of faculty employed as a full-time non-tenured professor, and the percentage of faculty employed as an adjunct or visiting professor;
(16) the percentage of courses taught by each of the different categories of faculty; [and]
(17) an indicator of each academic department's capacity to serve the students majoring within that department's programs, as determined by the [Commission on] Secretary of Higher Education; and
(18) the cohort default rate as defined by the United States Department of Education.
The institution or school shall provide with all paper applications for admission to the institution or school a hard copy of the information prepared pursuant to this section.
b. A four-year [public] institution of higher education and a proprietary school shall conform to the guidelines, criteria, and format prescribed by the [Commission on] Secretary of Higher Education in reporting the information required pursuant to this section.
c. A four-year [public] institution of higher education and a proprietary school shall submit its student consumer information report to the [Commission on] Secretary of Higher Education for inclusion in a comparative profile of the student consumer information reports of all four-year [public] institutions of higher education and proprietary schools.
d. A four-year [public] institution of higher education and a proprietary school shall ensure that the page of its Internet site which includes its student consumer information report contains a link to the page of the [Commission on] Secretary of Higher Education's Internet site that includes the comparative profile required pursuant to subsection b. of section 3 of this act.
e. A four-year [public] institution of higher education and a proprietary school shall ensure that the Internet site for submitting an online application to the institution or school contains a link to the institution's or school's student consumer information report.
f. A four-year [public] institution of higher education and a proprietary school shall require the parent or guardian of a student applying for admission into the institution or school, or the student if he is an independent adult, to sign and submit a statement acknowledging that he has reviewed the institution's or school's student consumer information report.
(cf: P.L.2009, c.197, s.2)
2. Section 3 of P.L.2009, c.197 (C.18A:3B-45) is amended to read as follows:
3. a. The [Commission on] Secretary of Higher Education shall issue guidelines and criteria for collecting and calculating the information required pursuant to section 2 of this act and shall prescribe a uniform reporting method for posting the information.
b. The [Commission on] Secretary of Higher Education shall annually compile the student consumer information reports submitted pursuant to subsection c. of section 2 of this act into a comparative profile of all four-year [public] institutions of higher education and proprietary schools authorized to offer licensed degree programs. The [commission] secretary shall present the information on its website in a manner that allows college students and their families to easily compare student consumer information across institutions and schools.
(cf: P.L. 2009, c.197, s.3)
3. (New section) a. A student enrolled in a proprietary school authorized to offer licensed degree programs shall not be eligible to receive any form of student assistance from the State, including grants and scholarships, unless:
(1) the school meets a minimum graduation rate designated by the Secretary of Higher Education in the preceding academic year. The secretary shall designate a minimum graduation rate, which shall not be below 30 percent;
(2) the cohort default rate of former students of the school is below a level established by the secretary. The secretary shall designate a maximum cohort default rate which shall not exceed 15 percent; and
(3) the average annual loan payment of a recent graduate is less than 20 percent of the graduate's discretionary income, or less than eight percent of the graduate's total income.
b. The Secretary of Higher Education shall revoke the license to award degrees from a proprietary school that fails to meet the standards established pursuant to subsection a. of this section in six or more years during a ten-year period.
c. The Secretary of Higher Education shall define "graduation rate" and discretionary income for the purposes of this section.
d. As used in this section, "cohort default rate" means the percentage of Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (Direct Loan) borrowers who default by the end of the second federal fiscal year following the federal fiscal year in which they entered repayment on their loans, unless the metric or its successor metric is otherwise defined by the United States Department of Education.
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
The bill includes proprietary schools authorized to grant academic degrees and independent institutions of higher education within the "New Jersey College Student and Parent Consumer Information Act," P.L.2009, c.197 (C.18A:3B-43 et seq.). Specifically, the bill provides that each such proprietary school and independent institution of higher education will have to annually disclose on its website various measures of student graduation rates, school costs, and student loan indebtedness, among other indicators of school quality. The bill also requires all institutions subject to the "New Jersey College Student and Parent Consumer Information Act" to report the cohort default rate, as it is defined by the United States Department of Education. Under the bill, the Secretary of Higher Education must include the student consumer information reports submitted by proprietary schools and independent institutions of higher education within a comparative profile that the secretary already prepares of four-year public institutions of higher education.
This bill provides that a student enrolled in a proprietary school will not be eligible to receive any form of student assistance from the State unless:
(1) the school meets a minimum graduation rate designated by the Secretary of Higher Education in the preceding academic year. The secretary is directed to designate a minimum graduation rate, which cannot be below 30 percent;
(2) the cohort default rate of former students of the school is below a level established by the secretary. The secretary is directed to designate a maximum cohort default rate, which cannot exceed 15 percent; and
(3) the average annual loan payment of a recent graduate is less than 20 percent of the graduate's discretionary income, or eight percent of the graduate's gross earnings.
The secretary is directed to define "graduation rate" and "discretionary income" for the bill's purposes and the cohort default rate is defined under the bill as it is defined by the United State Department of Education.
Finally, the secretary is directed to revoke a proprietary school's license to award degrees if the school fails to meet the standards established pursuant to the bill in six or more years during a ten-year period.
