Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE
                              [First Reprint]
                                SENATE, No. 3897
                             STATE OF NEW JERSEY
                              220th LEGISLATURE
                                             DATED: JUNE 27, 2023
                                                  SUMMARY
    Synopsis:                   Authorizes Higher Education Student Assistance Authority to award
                                summer tuition aid grants in summer 2024.
    Type of Impact:             State expenditure increase from the General Fund.
    Agencies Affected:          Higher Education Student Assistance Authority.
                                       Office of Legislative Services Estimate
    Fiscal Impact                                                      FY 2025
    State Cost Increase                                      $26.9 million - $35.8 million
    The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) estimates that this bill will lead to a one-time State
     expenditure increase between $26.9 million and $35.8 million in FY 2025 associated with
     providing tuition aid grants for coursework completed in summer 2024.
                                            BILL DESCRIPTION
     The bill authorizes the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority to award summer
tuition aid grants for eligible students in the summer 2024 semester.
     Under current law, a student may be eligible for a summer tuition aid grant in the summer 2023
semester only, provided that: the student is enrolled in six or more credit hours in the summer
term; the courses for which the summer tuition aid grant is to be applied are in the same
undergraduate program at the same institution in which the student was last enrolled during the
fall or spring semester of the preceding academic year; and the courses for which the summer
tuition aid grant is to be applied may be credited towards the student’s graduation or academic
major requirements.
     The bill amends current law to extend summer tuition aid grants to the summer 2024 semester.
The bill also stipulates that summer 2024 grants are to be funded by any amounts as may be
required from the unexpended balance of funds previously awarded for tuition aid grants. Finally,
      Office of Legislative Services                                    Legislative Budget and Finance Office
           State House Annex                                                    Phone (609) 847-3105
              P.O. Box 068                                                       Fax (609) 777-2442
      Trenton, New Jersey 08625                                                  www.njleg.state.nj.us
                                             FE to S3897 [1R]
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the bill permits the Legislature to appropriate additional funds for the summer 2024 grants by a
separate line item.
                                           FISCAL ANALYSIS
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
    No fiscal note has been submitted on this bill. However, the Tuition Aid Grant Study
Commission, established by P.L.2019, c.298, recommended in its October 2022 Final Report
expanding the Tuition Aid Grant program to provide awards to students enrolled in the summer
terms. In the report, the Task Force estimated doing so would cost between $29 million and $39
million.
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES
    The OLS estimates that this bill will lead to a one-time State expenditure increase between
$26.9 million and $35.8 million in FY 2025 associated with providing tuition aid grants for
coursework completed in summer 2024. Revised evaluation data included in the Governor’s FY
2024 Detailed Budget indicates that 62,128 students received full-time tuition aid grants in the
2022-2023 academic year. Based on a comparison to federal Pell Grant participation, the OLS
assumes that approximately 15 percent of full-time tuition aid grant recipients would also receive
summer grants, which yields approximately 9,319 recipients of summer tuition aid grants. The
average full-time semester tuition aid grant awarded for coursework during the academic year is
$3,846. Assuming that every eligible student enrolled in the summer attends full-time, the total
cost to the State would be approximately $35.8 million. However, it is likely that not every student
would enroll full-time in summer coursework. To account for students attending part-time and
full-time, the OLS assumes that the average student would enroll in between nine and 11 credits,
or 75 percent of a full-time course load. Under these assumptions, the cost to the State of providing
summer tuition aid grants would be $26.9 million.
    The OLS notes that, using a similar methodology, the Tuition Aid Grant Study Commission
estimated that there would be a cost of between $29 and $39 million to provide tuition aid grants
for coursework completed in the summer term.
    The OLS estimate for this bill is the same as the estimate previously issued this year for
legislation extending the provision of tuition aid grants for coursework completed in summer 2023.
This legislation was enacted as P.L.2023, c.34.
  Section:      Education
  Analyst:      Abigail Chambers
                Assistant Fiscal Analyst
  Approved:     Thomas Koenig
                Legislative Budget and Finance Officer
This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the
failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.
This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).
Statutes affected: 
Introduced: 18A:71B-20