S 4200: Requires student financial aid award letters to contain information on net costs, defined as an estimate of the costs of attendance after financial aid which does not require repayment and options for loans which do require repayment.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4200 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE 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: 1 Section 1. Section 9-w of the banking law, as amended by section 1 of 2 part CC of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 § 9-w. Standard financial aid award letter. The superintendent of 5 financial services in consultation with the president of the higher 6 education services corporation shall develop a standard financial aid 7 award letter which shall clearly delineate (a) the estimated cost of 8 attendance, including but not limited to, the cost of tuition and fees, 9 room and board, books, and transportation. Such standard letter shall 10 provide the estimated cost of attendance for the current academic year 11 as well as estimates for each academic year that the student would need 12 to attend to earn a degree at such institution with a disclaimer that 13 the cost of attendance for years other than the current academic year 14 are estimates and may be subject to change, (b) all financial aid 15 offered from the federal government, the state, and the institution with 16 an explanation as to which components will require repayment, (c) any 17 expected student and/or family contribution, (d) net costs, defined as 18 an estimate of the costs of attendance after financial aid which does 19 not require repayment, (e) campus-specific graduation, median borrowing, 20 and loan default rates, (f) options for loans which do require repay- 21 ment, and [(e)] (g) any other information as determined by the super- 22 intendent in consultation with the president. Such standard letter shall 23 include a glossary of standard terms and definitions used on such stand- 24 ard letter. The superintendent shall publish and make available such 25 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 1 eafter. Each college, vocational institution, and any other institution 2 that offers an approved program as defined in section six hundred one of 3 the education law shall utilize the standard letter issued by the 4 department of financial services in responding to all undergraduate 5 financial aid applicants for the two thousand sixteen--two thousand 6 seventeen academic year and thereafter. The superintendent shall promul- 7 gate regulations implementing this section. 8 § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall 9 have become a law.