Relates to student financial aid award letters, the official text

S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4200
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 3, 2025
                                ___________
 
 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-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02558-01-5
 S. 4200                             2
 
 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
 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.