NY State Senate Bill 2023-S7859

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Banks Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2024	referred to banks

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9649
Current Committee:: Senate Banks
Law Section:: Banking Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §9-w, Bank L

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires student financial aid award letters to contain information on net costs, defined as an estimate of the costs of attendance after financial aid which does not require repayment and options for loans which do require repayment.

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7859

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To ensure that the uniform financial aid award letter designed by the
Department of Financial Services and the Higher Education Services
Corporation includes a listing of a college's net price

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends Section 9-w of the Banking Law to add net
costs, defined as the estimated cost of attending a college after grants
but before loans, and loan repayment options to the list of descriptors
that must be included in a standard financial aid award letter.

Section two sets the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In the 2016 budget, the New York State legislature made important
progress towards transparency in college admissions by creating a

uniform financial aid award letter, to be developed by the Department of
Financial Services (DFS) and the Higher Education Services Corporation
(HESC). The letter, which is described in Section 9-W of the Banking
Law, was a key piece of New York's "Student Borrower Bill of Rights,"
which aimed to help undergraduate students and their families understand
and afford the true cost of higher education.  Section 9-W describes a
series of pieces of information that all financial aid award letters
must include, such as: the estimated cost of attendance, broken down by
tuition and fees, room and board, books, and transportation; financial
aid offered by the federal government, state, and college, and which
portions must be repaid; any expected student and/or family contrib-
ution; and campus-specific graduation, median borrowing, and loan
default rates. Missing from this paragraph in Section 9-W, however, is a
key data point that every family needs and yet many colleges fail to
clearly include: the "net price" of college, or bottom line that the
payer is responsible for after grants but before loans.

With more than half of New York students graduating tens of thousands of
dollars in debt, simply requiring the listing of net price in award
letters could go a long way towards helping families and individuals
plan their annual budgets and avoid mountains of crippling debt. While
DFS' current design of the uniform financial aid award letter has a
section titled "What you will pay," it is not one of the categories of
data included in Section 9-W and thus afforded statutory consideration.
Additionally, the current DFS template includes a section on loan
options, broken down by federal vs. private lenders - and yet this data
point is also excluded from Section 9-W.

This bill enshrines these two critical information points into statute
by officially including them in the standard financial aid award letter
which all colleges must use under state Banking Law. Helping students
and their families easily understand the cost of higher education so
that they can make an informed decision before embarking on what is
frequently the most expensive endeavor of their lives is the least we
can do to abate our state's burgeoning college affordability crisis.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become a law.

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7859
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 3, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Banks
 
 AN  ACT to amend the banking law, in relation to information included in
   student financial aid award letters
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section  1. Section 9-w of the banking law, as amended by section 1 of
 part CC of chapter 54 of the  laws  of  2016,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   §  9-w.  Standard  financial  aid  award letter. The superintendent of
 financial services in consultation with  the  president  of  the  higher
 education  services  corporation  shall develop a standard financial aid
 award letter which shall clearly delineate (a)  the  estimated  cost  of
 attendance,  including but not limited to, the cost of tuition and fees,
 room and board, books, and transportation. Such  standard  letter  shall
 provide  the  estimated cost of attendance for the current academic year
 as well as estimates for each academic year that the student would  need
 to  attend  to  earn a degree at such institution with a disclaimer that
 the cost of attendance for years other than the  current  academic  year
 are  estimates  and  may  be  subject  to  change, (b) all financial aid
 offered from the federal government, the state, and the institution with
 an explanation as to which components will require  repayment,  (c)  any
 expected  student  and/or family contribution, (d) NET COSTS, DEFINED AS
 AN ESTIMATE OF THE COSTS OF ATTENDANCE AFTER FINANCIAL  AID  WHICH  DOES
 NOT REQUIRE REPAYMENT, (E) campus-specific graduation, median borrowing,
 and  loan  default  rates, (F) OPTIONS FOR LOANS WHICH DO REQUIRE REPAY-
 MENT, and [(e)] (G) any other information as determined  by  the  super-
 intendent in consultation with the president. Such standard letter shall
 include a glossary of standard terms and definitions used on such stand-
 ard  letter.  The  superintendent  shall publish and make available such
 standard letter by December thirty-first, two thousand fifteen and ther-
 eafter. Each college, vocational institution, and any other  institution
 that offers an approved program as defined in section six hundred one of
 the  education  law  shall  utilize  the  standard  letter issued by the
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD13228-02-3
 S. 7859                             2
 
 department of financial services  in  responding  to  all  undergraduate
 financial  aid  applicants  for  the  two thousand sixteen--two thousand
 seventeen academic year and thereafter. The superintendent shall promul-
 gate regulations implementing this section.
   §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
 have become a law.

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Senate Bill S7859

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Banks Committee

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Details

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S7859

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Sponsored By

Andrew Gounardes

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Banks Committee

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Details

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S7859 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments