BILL NUMBER:  S7493

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the education law, in relation to establishing
additional loan forgiveness benefits

 PURPOSE :

Establishes an additional twenty-four months of loan forgiveness
benefits under the Get on Your Feet Loan Forgiveness program for
applicants living in New York State counties experiencing net
population loss to provide an incentive to college graduates to locate
in these areas

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 amends Section 679-g of the Education Law to extend the Get
on Your Feet Loan Forgiveness Program for an additional twenty-four
months for graduates residing in counties in New York State
experiencing net population loss. The extension provides an additional
twenty-four months (beyond the existing twenty-four months) of
repayment eligibility for applicants to the Get on Your Feet Loan
Forgiveness Program who reside in New York State counties that have
suffered population loss from the 2000 decennial census to the
present.
              

Section 2 establishes an effective date.

 EXISTING LAW :

Section 679-g.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Formerly industrial cities nationwide face higher residential vacancy
rates and declining populations, even as other cities are seeing
population increases.{1} With its history of industrial strength, the
situation in upstate New York reflects this trend. Upstate localities
are losing population, especially younger and working-age
residents.{2}

Twenty-eight upstate counties have suffered population loss since the
2000 decennial census, ranging from Greene County in the Hudson
Valley, which has seen a relatively small decline of .04%, to Hamilton
County in the State's North Country, which has seen a decline of over
12% during the same period.{3}

This bill seeks to address this problem by providing extra loan
forgiveness benefits to college graduates who elect to reside in
counties experiencing net population loss. The Get on Your Feet Loan
Forgiveness Program was established in 2015 to provide loan repayment
assistance to New York college graduates.{4} Under this bill,
applicants eligible for the Get on Your Feet Loan Forgiveness Program
who reside in such a county that has experienced net population loss
from 2010 to the present would be eligible for an additional
twenty-four months of loan repayment assistance - double the what is
offered under the existing program. This additional benefit is
designed to provide an incentive to college graduates to stay in or
move to these counties and provide extra support to these graduates
who may be earning less than they would if they had chosen to locate
in a different area.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New
 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

To be determined.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately.
{1} See Vey, J., The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy
Program, Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing
America's Older Industrial Cities (2007) at 25.
{2} McMahon, E.J. "The Graying of the Empire State." Empire Center.
8/16/2012; Ellis, K. "Panel examines New York's 'rural brain drain."
4/19/2011; Federal Reserve Bank of New York. "Upstate at a Glance."
December 2007.
{3} U.S. Bureau of the Census.
{4} Education Law Section 679-g.