Bill Text: NJ S586 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Directs four-year public institutions of higher education to develop plan to achieve six-year graduation rate of at least 70 percent for full-time undergraduate students by 2022-2023 academic year.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-09 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Higher Education Committee [S586 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-S586-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
218th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2018 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator NICHOLAS J. SACCO
District 32 (Bergen and Hudson)
Senator NELLIE POU
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Directs four-year public institutions of higher education to develop plan to achieve six-year graduation rate of at least 70 percent for full-time undergraduate students by 2022-2023 academic year.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning the graduation rates of four-year public institutions of higher education and supplementing chapter 62 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. The governing board of a four-year public institution of higher education shall develop a plan to achieve a six-year graduation rate of at least 70 percent by the 2022-2023 academic year for full-time students enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program regularly requiring eight semesters to complete.
In developing the plan, the board shall factor into the graduation rate the number of students who transfer to another four-year institution of higher education prior to graduation from the public institution.
b. The board shall establish a study committee to advise and make recommendations to the board on the plan to achieve a six-year graduation rate of at least 70 percent as required pursuant to subsection a. of this section. The committee shall consist of three members of the board, one faculty member selected in consultation with the majority representative of the faculty union, and one student.
c. The board shall review the recommendations made by the committee and submit the plan by January 1, 2019 to the Secretary of Higher Education for approval. The board shall not submit the plan prior to its review of the committee's recommendations. In the event that the secretary:
(1) approves the plan, the board shall transmit a copy of the approved plan to the New Jersey Presidents' Council, the Senate Higher Education Committee, and the Assembly Higher Education Committee, or their successor committees; or
(2) does not approve the plan, the secretary shall provide to the board, in writing, the reasons for the disapproval of the plan. Upon receiving the secretary's reasons for disapproving the plan, the board shall develop a new plan and resubmit the plan to the secretary within 90 days.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill directs the governing board of a four-year public institution of higher education to develop a plan to achieve a six-year graduation rate of at least 70 percent by the 2022-2023 academic year for full-time students enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program regularly requiring eight semesters to complete. The plan will be submitted for approval to the Secretary of Higher Education by January 1, 2019.
The bill stipulates that the governing board must establish a study committee to advise and make recommendations to the board on the plan to achieve the six-year graduation rate of at least 70 percent. The board may not submit the plan to the secretary prior to its review of the committee's recommendations.
If the secretary approves the plan, the board is to transmit a copy of the approved plan to the New Jersey Presidents' Council, the Senate Higher Education Committee, and the Assembly Higher Education Committee. If the secretary does not approve the plan, the secretary will provide the board, in writing, with the reasons for the disapproval. The board is then required to develop a new plan and resubmit the plan to the secretary within 90 days.
