General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 973
January Session, 2015 *_____SB00973PRIHED031315____*
General Assembly
Substitute Bill No. 973
January Session, 2015
*_____SB00973PRIHED031315____*
AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM REVIEW AND INVESTIGATIONS COMMITTEE CONCERNING HIGHER EDUCATION CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2015) As used in this section and sections 2 to 5, inclusive, of this act:
(1) "Sub-baccalaureate certificate" means a postsecondary award earned on a for-credit or noncredit basis and conferred upon successful completion of a formal program of study below the baccalaureate level;
(2) "Public institution of higher education" has the same meaning as provided in section 10a-173 of the general statutes;
(3) "Independent for-profit institution of higher education" means a for-profit institution established in this state (A) that has degree-granting authority in this state, (B) that has its main campus located in this state, (C) that is not included in the Connecticut system of public higher education, and (D) whose primary function is not the preparation of students for religious vocation;
(4) "Independent institution of higher education" has the same meaning as provided in section 10a-173 of the general statutes;
(5) "Private occupational school" has the same meaning as provided in section 10a-22a of the general statutes;
(6) "Hospital-based occupational school" means any hospital authorized pursuant to section 10a-22b of the general statutes to offer instruction in any form or manner in any trade, industrial, commercial, service, professional or other occupation for any remuneration, consideration, reward or promise, except to hospital employees, members of the medical staff and training for contracted workers;
(7) "Barber school" means any program, school or other entity authorized pursuant to section 10a-22b of the general statutes to offer instruction in any form or manner in barbering for any remuneration, consideration, reward or promise; and
(8) "Hairdressing school" means any program, school or other entity authorized pursuant to section 10a-22b of the general statutes to offer instruction in any form or manner in hairdressing for any remuneration, consideration, reward or promise.
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2015) (a) Not later than July 1, 2016, the Office of Higher Education shall develop and maintain a cost and outcome reporting system to provide information to the public about all sub-baccalaureate certificates awarded by the public, independent for-profit, and independent nonprofit institutions of higher education and the private occupational, hospital-based occupational, barber, and hairdressing schools in this state. Not later than January 1, 2017, and annually thereafter, each public, independent for-profit, and independent nonprofit institution of higher education and private occupational, hospital-based occupational, barber, and hairdressing school shall provide data for the prior academic year regarding its sub-baccalaureate certificate programs and the types of sub-baccalaureate certificates it offers to said office in a uniform format developed by said office. Not later than July 1, 2017, and annually thereafter, said office shall publish such data on its Internet web site for purposes of allowing basic comparisons among similar types of sub-baccalaureate certificate programs offered by such institutions and schools and any additional information concerning such certificate programs said office chooses to publish. The information provided by the cost and outcome reporting system for each such certificate program shall include, if applicable to the certificate program:
(1) Tuition and fees charged to a student who completes the certificate program in the time period prescribed by such program;
(2) Costs relating to the purchase of books and supplies, unless such costs are included as part of the tuition and fees of such institution or school for such program;
(3) Median loan debt incurred by students who complete a for-credit certificate program or a noncredit certificate program, to the extent such information has been reported to the financial aid office of the institution or school offering such program, separately by Title IV loans and other education debt, including private and institutional loans;
(4) Total enrollment in and number of certificates awarded by such program;
(5) Basic demographic information, to the extent available, of the students enrolled in such program, including, but not limited to, gender, age, race and ethnicity;
(6) Graduation rates for student cohorts completing such program;
(7) Average length of time to complete such program;
(8) Job placement rates, to the extent available, for students who have completed such program;
(9) Entry level starting salary based on Labor Department statistics for jobs requiring the certificate;
(10) Average salary based on Labor Department statistics for jobs requiring the certificate;
(11) Cohort pass rate, to the extent available, for national certification programs; and
(12) Cohort state licensure pass rate, to the extent available, for positions requiring the certificate and licensure.
(b) Each public, independent for-profit, and independent nonprofit institution of higher education or private occupational, hospital-based occupational, barber, and hairdressing school that offers a sub-baccalaureate certificate program shall publish such information on its Internet web site as prominently as the certificate program description appears on such Internet web site.
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2015) Each public, independent for-profit, and independent nonprofit institution of higher education and private occupational, hospital-based occupational, barber, and hairdressing school shall develop for each sub-baccalaureate certificate program it offers a one-page fact sheet that provides basic information regarding such program to potential applicants, including, but not limited to, tuition, fees, costs of books and supplies, room and board, graduation and job placement rates and average student debt.
Sec. 4. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2015) (a) The Board of Regents for Higher Education shall establish a working group comprised of deans of continuing education programs at the regional community-technical colleges to review all of the noncredit sub-baccalaureate certificate programs offered by each regional community-technical college. Not later than July 1, 2016, the working group shall design a uniform naming convention for such programs to enable students to distinguish between noncredit certificate programs with similar yet varied requirements within the same field of study. Programs that vary shall be uniformly designated with indications of different, enhanced or more demanding requirements.
(b) Not later than July 1, 2016, and periodically thereafter as prescribed by the Board of Regents for Higher Education, the working group shall review the tuition of uniformly named sub-baccalaureate certificate programs leading to the same qualifications to determine if any cost variations in the tuition and fees for such program are reasonable.
Sec. 5. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2015) Not later than January 1, 2017, the Office of Higher Education shall develop a program to annually audit not less than a sample of student data from all sub-baccalaureate certificate programs offered by the public, independent for-profit, and independent nonprofit institutions of higher education and the private occupational, hospital-based occupational, barber, and hairdressing schools. Said office shall not disclose any personally identifiable information of any student obtained as a result of performing the annual audit.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2015 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2015 New section
Sec. 3 July 1, 2015 New section
Sec. 4 July 1, 2015 New section
Sec. 5 July 1, 2015 New section
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
July 1, 2015
New section
Sec. 2
July 1, 2015
New section
Sec. 3
July 1, 2015
New section
Sec. 4
July 1, 2015
New section
Sec. 5
July 1, 2015
New section
PRI Joint Favorable Subst. C/R HED
PRI
Joint Favorable Subst. C/R
HED