A 508: Increases the maximum time limits for tuition assistance program awards; increases the maximum number of academic years of study to six.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 508 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ANDERSON, CRUZ, FORREST, KELLES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to permitting tuition assistance program awards for an aggregate six years of study The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 667 of the education law, as 2 amended by chapter 376 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 2. Duration. No undergraduate shall be eligible for more than [four] 5 six academic years of study in the aggregate, or [five] seven academic 6 years in the aggregate if the program of study normally requires five 7 years. Students enrolled in a program of remedial study, approved by the 8 commissioner in an institution of higher education and intended to 9 culminate in a degree in undergraduate study shall, for purposes of this 10 section, be considered as enrolled in a program of study normally 11 requiring five years. An undergraduate student enrolled in an eligible 12 two year program of study approved by the commissioner shall be eligible 13 for no more than [three] four academic years of study in the aggregate. 14 An undergraduate student enrolled in an approved two or four-year 15 program of study approved by the commissioner who must transfer to 16 another institution as a result of permanent college closure shall be 17 eligible for up to two additional semesters, or their equivalent, to the 18 extent credits necessary to complete [his or her] such program of study 19 were deemed non-transferable from the closed institution or were deemed 20 not applicable to such student's program of study by the new institu- 21 tion. Any semester, quarter, or term of attendance during which a 22 student receives any award under this article, after the effective date 23 of the former scholar incentive program and prior to academic year nine- 24 teen hundred eighty-nine--nineteen hundred ninety, shall be counted EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01917-01-5 
 A. 508 2 1 toward the maximum term of eligibility for tuition assistance under this 2 section, except that any semester, quarter or term of attendance during 3 which a student received an award pursuant to section six hundred 4 sixty-six of this subpart shall be counted as one-half of a semester, 5 quarter or term, as the case may be, toward the maximum term of eligi- 6 bility under this section. Any semester, quarter or term of attendance 7 during which a student received an award pursuant to section six hundred 8 sixty-seven-a of this subpart shall not be counted toward the maximum 9 term of eligibility under this section. 10 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding 11 the date on which it shall have become a law.