By: West S.B. No. 1799
(In the Senate - Filed March 9, 2017; March 23, 2017, read
first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education;
April 27, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 0; April 27, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the student loan default prevention and financial aid
literacy pilot program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 61.0763(a), (b), (c), and (d),
Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) [In this section, "career school or college" has the
meaning assigned by Section 132.001.
[(b)] Not later than January 1, 2014, [the board shall
establish and administer] a pilot program shall be established at
selected postsecondary educational institutions to ensure that
students of those institutions are informed consumers with regard
to all aspects of student financial aid, including:
(1) the consequences of borrowing to finance a
student's postsecondary education;
(2) the financial consequences of a student's academic
and career choices; and
(3) strategies for avoiding student loan delinquency
and default.
(b) At [(c) The board shall select at] least one
institution from each of the following categories of postsecondary
educational institutions must be selected to participate in the
program:
(1) general academic teaching institutions;
(2) public junior colleges; and
(3) private or independent institutions of higher
education[; and
[(4) career schools or colleges].
(c) [(d)] In selecting postsecondary educational
institutions to participate in the pilot program, [the board shall
give] priority shall be given to institutions that are recognized
by the United States Department of Education as minority-serving
institutions, including minority institutions under Section 1067k
of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Section 1001 et seq.)
[have a three-year cohort student loan default rate, as reported by
the United States Department of Education:
[(1) of more than 20 percent; or
[(2) that has above average growth as compared to the
rates of other postsecondary educational institutions in this
state].
SECTION 2. Section 57.011, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(f) In accordance with an agreement with the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board, the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan
Corporation shall administer the pilot program established under
Section 61.0763. The corporation shall submit to the governor, the
lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house of
representatives any annual report or end of program report the
corporation submits to the United States Department of Education in
administering the pilot program. This subsection expires December
31, 2019.
SECTION 3. Sections 61.0763(e), (f), and (g), Education
Code, are repealed.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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