Bill Text: NJ S3083 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires four-year public institutions of higher education to provide on website certain information on online degree students and graduate degree students.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-11 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Higher Education Committee [S3083 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S3083-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH P. CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
SYNOPSIS
Requires four-year public institutions of higher education to provide on website certain information on online degree students and graduate degree students.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning information provided by four-year public institutions of higher education and amending P.L.2009, c.197.
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. An institution of higher education 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, the institution'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 shall post, and annually update, a student consumer information report on its website that includes, if applicable:
(1) overall three-year, four-year, and six-year graduation rates, as applicable;
(2) three-year, four-year, and six-year graduation rates by demographic group, as applicable;
(3) three-year, four-year, and six-year graduation rates by major, as applicable;
(4) three-year, four-year, and six-year graduation rates for student-athletes, as applicable;
(5) the student transfer rate;
(6) an overview of the institutions to which former students of that college or university have transferred prior to the completion of a degree;
(7) the cost for the current academic year of attending the institution 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 to both student-athletes and to students who do not participate in athletic programs at the institution;
(9) the percent of student-athletes who receive financial assistance directly from the institution and the average value of the assistance and the percent of students who do not participate in athletic programs at the institution who receive financial assistance directly from the institution and the average value of the assistance;
(10) for four-year institutions of higher education, 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, and the total projected cost for an incoming freshman exclusively enrolled in online education courses to complete a degree in four years;
(11) for four-year institutions of higher education, 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, and the total projected cost for an incoming freshman exclusively enrolled in online education courses to complete a degree in six years;
(12) average student loan indebtedness of two-year and four-year graduates for both students who live on campus and students who commute, as applicable, and students exclusively enrolled in online education courses. The institution shall disaggregate the data by: race, ethnicity, age, family income at the time of admission, gender, and first-generation status;
(13) average student loan indebtedness of three-year and six-year graduates for both students who live on campus and students who commute, as applicable, and students exclusively enrolled in online education courses. The institution shall disaggregate the data by: race, ethnicity, age, family income at the time of admission, gender, and first-generation status;
(14) average student loan indebtedness of a student who transfers or withdraws from the institution prior to the completion of a degree program for both students who live on campus and who commute, and students exclusively enrolled in online education courses. The institution shall disaggregate the data by: race, ethnicity, age, family income at the time of admission, gender, and first-generation status;
(15) an overview of the institution'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;
(17) an indicator of each academic department's capacity to serve the students majoring within that department's programs, as determined by the Secretary of Higher Education; [and]
(18) the number and percentage of borrowers for whom the institution has certified a supplemental student loan, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, age, family income at the time of admission, gender, and first-generation status;
(18) the number and percentage of students exclusively enrolled in online education courses; and
(19) an overview of the education courses the institution offers online, including the total number of courses offered and the course level for each course.
The institution shall provide with all paper applications for admission to the institution a hard copy of the information prepared pursuant to this section.
b. An institution of higher education shall conform to the guidelines, criteria, and format prescribed by the Secretary of Higher Education in reporting the information required pursuant to this section.
c. An institution of higher education shall submit its student consumer information report to the Secretary of Higher Education for inclusion in a comparative profile of the student consumer information reports of all institutions of higher education.
In addition to the information contained in the institutional student consumer information reports pursuant to this section, the comparative profile shall identify the existence of any racial disparities in student loan indebtedness and loan default rates.
d. An institution of higher education shall ensure that the page of its Internet site which includes its student consumer information report contains a link to the page of the Secretary of Higher Education's Internet site that includes the comparative profile required pursuant to subsection b. of section 3 of this act.
e. An institution of higher education shall ensure that the Internet site for submitting an online application to the institution contains a link to the institution's student consumer information report.
f. An institution of higher education shall require the parent or guardian of a student applying for admission into the institution, or the student if he is an independent adult, to sign and submit a statement acknowledging that he has reviewed the institution's student consumer information report.
g. A four-year public institution of higher education 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, as similarly required pursuant to subsection a. of this section and as applicable, for the institution's graduate degree programs. The information shall be calculated separately for students who live on campus, students who commute, and students exclusively enrolled in online education courses. The information shall be submitted to the Secretary of Higher Education as part of the institution's student consumer information report required pursuant to subsection c. of this section.
2. This act shall take
effect immediately and shall first be applicable to the 2024-2025 academic
year.
STATEMENT
Under the provisions of the "New Jersey College Student and Parent Consumer Information Act," P.L.2009, c.197 (C.18A:3B-43 et seq.), four-year public institutions of higher education are required to provide for public inspection on their websites information on the cost of attendance, the graduation rates of admitted students, and the faculty of the institution. The purpose of the information is to maximize the awareness of students and their families of the costs associated with enrollment in the institution, the institution's success in ensuring the graduation of its students, and the composition of the teaching faculty that a student will encounter in the student's coursework.
This bill amends that law to require the institutions to also provide the information on students who are exclusively enrolled in online education courses at the institution, and for students enrolled in a graduate degree program at the institution.
