SENATE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 2026
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: AUGUST 17, 2020
The Senate Higher Education Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 2026.
This bill provides that all institutions of higher education, including independent institutions of higher education, and proprietary institutions authorized to offer licensed degree programs will be subject to the provisions of the “New Jersey College Student and Parent Consumer Information Act,” P.L.2009, c.197 (C.18A:3B-43 et seq.). Under that act, four-year public institutions of higher education are currently required to provide for public inspection on their websites information on the cost of attendance, the graduation rates of admitted students, and the faculty of the institution. This bill also amends that law to require all institutions of higher education and proprietary institutions licensed to offer academic degrees to include on the institution’s website employment data for recent graduates from the institution.
In addition to those institutions, this bill requires private career schools authorized to offer educational programs required for licensure, registration, or certification in a profession or occupation regulated by a professional or occupational board established in the Division of Consumer Affairs, and private career schools authorized by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to offer one or more occupational training programs, to also post similar information on their websites.
The bill requires the Secretary of Higher Education, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and the Division of Consumer Affairs to enter into a memorandum of understanding to develop a data system that will collect the employment data for postsecondary students in order to produce an employment comparative report of all institutions and private career schools. The bill also requires the department to initiate efforts to enter into an agreement with other states for the purpose of sharing unemployment insurance information.
Under the bill, the institutions and private career schools will submit to the department for each student who graduates or withdraws from the institution or school: the student’s social security number, degree program or professional and occupational educational program, and graduation or withdrawal date; information on the student’s loan debt obtained from the federal student loan program and any loans the institution or school has certified, arranged, or is otherwise aware of, or of which it should reasonably be aware; and the institutional or school charges for which the student is responsible net of any institutional or school grant aid. The institutions and schools will also send the department the clear identification of the institution’s or school’s career-oriented programs of study. The department will use the information to compile an employment comparative report, which will include:
(1) the employment rate and average annual salary of students by academic major, in the case of an academic degree program, or program in the case of private career schools, two years following graduation from the institution or school;
(2) the employment rate and average annual salary of students two years following the academic year in which the students graduated from the institution or school; and
(3) the employment rate and average annual salary of students two years following withdrawal from the institution or school prior to the completion of a degree program or educational program.
The Secretary of Higher Education, Attorney General, and Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development will distribute the employment comparative report to each institution of higher education, proprietary institution authorized to offer licensed degree programs, and private career school for inclusion on the institution’s or school’s website and inclusion in the student consumer information report prepared by the institution or school.