BILL NUMBER: S7713B
SPONSOR: STAVISKY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act in relation to recovery for certain overpayments
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL::
Prohibits the higher education services corporation from revoking or
seeking remittance of awards made in error during 2021/2022, 2022/2023
or 2023/2024 academic years.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS::
Section 1 amends Paragraph a of subdivision 4 of section 665 of the
education law, as added by chapter 195 of the laws of 1980, that no
repayment shall be demanded or occur from a student, former student or
institution where the error was an inadvertent or administrative error
on the part of the corporation or other state agency.
Section 2 sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION::
In September of 2023 the NYS Higher Education Services Corporation
(HESC) alerted colleges and universities participating in the New York
tuition assistance program (TAP) of a multi-year error in determining
award levels for TAP recipients. .Students who are claimed as dependents
on someone else's tax return are eligible for a greater TAP award with
fewer income restrictions than students who file their tax return inde-
pendently. Starting in the 2020-21 school year, students who should have
been classified as independent were inadvertently classified as depend-
ent students, which resulted in overpayments to the institutions where
these misclassified students were enrolled.
Recognizing that students and institutions, though no fault of their
own, may now face financial liability with little ability to plan or
budget for these costs, this bill prohibits HESC from seeking remittance
of overpayments made as a result of this error for the 2020-2021, 2021-
2022, and 2022-23 school years.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
New Bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATION::
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE::
This act shall take effect immediately.