Bill Text: NJ S2873 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Directs Secretary of Higher Education to develop gainful employment requirement that public institutions of higher education and certain proprietary schools must meet to participate in State student assistance programs.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-08-27 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Higher Education Committee [S2873 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2018-S2873-Introduced.html

SENATE, No. 2873

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

218th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED AUGUST 27, 2018

 


 

Sponsored by:

Senator  TROY SINGLETON

District 7 (Burlington)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Directs Secretary of Higher Education to develop gainful employment requirement that public institutions of higher education and certain proprietary schools must meet to participate in State student assistance programs.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

 


An Act concerning accountability in higher education 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.   a.    As used in this section, "proprietary institution" means a postsecondary institution that is operated for profit and which is licensed by the Secretary of Higher Education to offer academic degree programs.

      b.   The Secretary of Higher Education shall develop a gainful employment requirement for academic degree programs offered by public institutions of higher education and proprietary institutions.  The purpose of the requirement shall be to provide greater transparency and accountability of the academic degree programs offered by the institutions and to measure the success of students who complete the program in gaining employment in an occupational field related to the degree program.

      c.    The gainful employment requirement established by the secretary shall provide that for each academic degree program offered by the institution, the institution shall provide to prospective students the following information:

     (1)   the occupations that the program prepares students to enter;

     (2)   the on-time graduation rate for students completing the program;

     (3)   the tuition and fees a student is charged to complete the program on-time;

     (4)   the job placement rate for students completing the program as determined under a methodology developed by the secretary; and

     (5)   the median student loan debt incurred by students who completed the program.  The institution shall identify separately the median loan debt from federal, State, and private educational loans.

     An institution shall prominently display and annually update the information required pursuant to this subsection on the homepage of the academic degree program website and shall provide a direct link to the information on any other web page that contains general, academic, or admissions information about the program.

     An institution shall provide a hardcopy or direct link to the information to each student who files an application to enroll in the academic degree program.  The institution shall also include the information in promotional materials it makes available to prospective students.

      d.   The gainful employment requirement established by the secretary shall require an institution to demonstrate that the graduates of an academic degree program earn enough to adequately repay their student loans by meeting a certain debt-to-income ratio.  The secretary shall calculate the permissible debt-to-income ratio that the institution shall be required to meet based on an annual income debt-to-earnings ratio and a discretionary income ratio.

     e.     An institution that does not meet the gainful employment requirements established by the secretary under subsections c. and d. of this section shall not be eligible to participate in State student assistance programs.

 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill directs the Secretary of Higher Education to develop a gainful employment requirement for academic degree programs offered by public institutions of higher education and proprietary institutions.  The purpose of the requirement is to provide greater transparency and accountability of the academic degree programs offered by the institutions and to measure the success of students who complete the program in gaining employment in an occupational field related to the degree program.

     Under the bill, for each academic degree program offered by the institution, the institution will provide to prospective students the following information:

·         the occupations that the program prepares students to enter;

·         the on-time graduation rate for students completing the program;

·         the tuition and fees a student is charged to complete the program on-time;

·         the job placement rate for students completing the program as determined under a methodology developed by the secretary; and

·         the median student loan debt incurred by students who completed the program, separately identifying federal, State, and private educational loans.

     The gainful employment requirement requires an institution to demonstrate that the graduates of an academic degree program earn enough to adequately repay their student loans by meeting a certain debt-to-income ratio.  An institution that does not meet the gainful employment requirements established by the secretary will not be eligible to participate in State student assistance programs.

     Many students who enroll in academic degree programs offered by public institutions of higher education and proprietary institutions accumulate significant student loan debt, and then fail to graduate or gain employment.  Developing a gainful employment requirement which measures program costs, graduation rates, employment earnings, and accumulated student debt, will hold institutions more accountable for their academic degree programs and will help students make more informed decisions when deciding to enroll in an academic degree program.

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