NY State Senate Bill 2025-S5861

Senate Bill S5861

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to a net price calculator center for colleges on the website of the higher education services corporation

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Higher Education 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
Mar 03, 2025	referred to higher education

2025-S5861 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6155
Current Committee:: Senate Higher Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Add §689-b, Ed L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S7857, A10084

2025-S5861 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Directs the higher education services corporation to create a net price calculator center for colleges on its website.

2025-S5861 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5861

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to a net price calculator
center for colleges

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To create a centralized net price calculator for every college in the
state

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one adds a new section 689-b to the Education Law to create a
net price calculator center, which would measure the cost of attending a
college after deducting grants and scholarships but before loans, on the
Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC)'s website. Such net price
calculator shall be capable of producing cost estimates for all colleges
in the state after requiring a user to submit household, income, asset,
and other financial information only once. Users will not be required to

submit the same information repeatedly for each college for which they
wish to receive an estimate.

Section two provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

While many public and private colleges boast that only a small fraction
of students wind up paying the published tuition, it can be difficult
for families and individuals to understand exactly how much they are on
the hook for before they officially apply. This is where net price
calculators, which produce estimates for how much it costs to attend a
college after grants but before loans, come in. Net price calculators,
which many colleges provide online, are critical tools to help families
and individuals determine what kind of higher education they can truly
afford.

Unfortunately, the fact that these calculators are hosted on individual
college websites means that users must enter the same financial informa-
tion on dependency status, household income, assets, dividends, and
more, anew each time they wish to receive an estimated net price from a
college. While the US Department of Education has created a net price
calculator center online, it simply links to individual colleges' net
price calculators on their webpages - limiting the convenience, and thus
use, of this tool.

This bill would mandate that the NYS Higher Education Services Corpo-
ration (HESC) partner with the State Department of Education (DOE) to
create and host a net price calculator center on HESC's webpage which
produces estimates for any higher education institution in the state.
The HESC calculator could incorporate data and algorithms from existing
net price calculators, but would require users to enter their financial
information only once before producing net price estimates for any
college. The calculator center would thus act like a one-stop government
shop to help families determine exactly what kind of higher education
they can afford in New York. In the midst of a crippling college afford-
ability and enrollment crisis, easing the college search process by
centralizing transparency tools such as net price calculators is the
least we can do to help families and individuals pursue their dreams.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2024: S.7857 - Referred to Higher Education

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

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

2025-S5861 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5861
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 3, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
 
 AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to a net price calculator
   center for colleges
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section  689-b
 to read as follows:
   §  689-B.  NET  PRICE  CALCULATOR  CENTER. 1. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS
 SECTION:
   (A) "ESTIMATED COST OF ATTENDANCE" SHALL MEAN THE  TOTAL  AMOUNT,  NOT
 INCLUDING  GRANTS  AND  SCHOLARSHIPS, THAT IT COSTS TO ATTEND A COLLEGE,
 WHICH MAY INCLUDE, AMONG OTHER EXPENSES, TUITION AND FEES,  HOUSING  AND
 MEALS,  ALLOWANCES  FOR  BOOKS,  SUPPLIES, TRANSPORTATION, AND DEPENDENT
 CARE.
   (B) "NET PRICE" SHALL MEAN THE ESTIMATED COST OF ATTENDANCE AT A GIVEN
 COLLEGE AFTER ACCOUNTING FOR FINANCIAL AID WHICH DOES NOT REQUIRE REPAY-
 MENT.
   (C) "NET PRICE CALCULATOR" SHALL MEAN A TOOL TO CALCULATE NET PRICE AT
 A COLLEGE.
   2. (A) THE PRESIDENT SHALL,  IN  CONJUNCTION  WITH  THE  COMMISSIONER,
 CREATE A NET PRICE CALCULATOR CENTER WHICH PROVIDES A NET PRICE CALCULA-
 TOR  TOOL  FOR  ALL  COLLEGES  IN  THIS STATE. SUCH NET PRICE CALCULATOR
 CENTER SHALL BE PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED ON AND EASILY ACCESSED THROUGH THE
 CORPORATION'S WEBSITE.
   (B) THE PRESIDENT AND COMMISSIONER MAY  INCORPORATE  INFORMATION  FROM
 EXISTING NET PRICE CALCULATORS ON A COLLEGE'S WEBSITE WHEN DESIGNING THE
 NET PRICE CALCULATOR TOOL TO BE HOSTED ON THE CORPORATION'S WEBSITE, BUT
 SUCH CALCULATOR SHALL EXIST AS A SINGULAR CALCULATOR ABLE TO PROVIDE NET
 PRICES  FOR  ALL  COLLEGES IN THE STATE RATHER THAN LINKING TO NET PRICE
 CALCULATORS ON EACH INDIVIDUAL COLLEGE'S WEBSITE.

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD08374-01-5

 S. 5861                             2
 
   (C) SUCH CALCULATOR TOOL SHALL  REQUIRE  A  USER  TO  ENTER  HOUSEHOLD
 INCOME,  ASSETS, AND OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION AT THE ONSET OF THE USE
 OF SUCH TOOL AND THEN SHALL USE SUCH INFORMATION TO PRODUCE AN ESTIMATED
 NET PRICE FOR ANY COLLEGE IN THIS STATE. SUCH TOOL SHALL NOT REQUIRE THE
 USER TO ENTER SUCH INFORMATION ANEW FOR EACH ESTIMATE THAT SUCH CALCULA-
 TOR PRODUCES.
   (D)  THE  PRESIDENT  AND  COMMISSIONER  SHALL  UTILIZE THE TUITION AND
 RELATED COST INFORMATION  MOST  RECENTLY  REPORTED  BY  A  COLLEGE  WHEN
 DESIGNING  THE  NET  PRICE  CALCULATOR  DESCRIBED  HEREIN.  IF A COLLEGE
 UPDATES ITS ESTIMATED COST OF  ATTENDANCE,  EITHER  ON  ITS  WEBSITE  OR
 OTHERWISE, THE NET PRICE CALCULATOR SHALL INCORPORATE SUCH UPDATED COSTS
 INTO ITS CALCULATIONS.
   §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary  for  the  implementation  of
 this  act  on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
 on or before such effective date.

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