FILED SENATE
May 13, 2020
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
S.B. 726
SESSION 2019 PRINCIPAL CLERK
S D
SENATE BILL DRS45391-RQza-5A*
Short Title: PED Report/Student Financial Assistance. (Public)
Sponsors: Senators D. Davis, Waddell, and Ford (Primary Sponsors).
Referred to:
1 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
2 AN ACT TO MAKE NECESSARY IMPROVEMENTS TO ENSURE STATE FUNDS FOR
3 POSTSECONDARY EDUCATIONAL FINANCIAL AID PROGRAMS ARE FULLY
4 EXPENDED AND TO GAUGE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THOSE PROGRAMS, AS
5 RECOMMENDED BY THE JOINT LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM EVALUATION
6 OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE.
7 The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
8 SECTION 1.(a) G.S. 116-209.45(j) reads as rewritten:
9 "(j) Report to the General Assembly. – The Authority shall report no later than December
10 1, 2013, and annually thereafter to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee
11 regarding the Fund and loans awarded from the Fund.Fund, including the total number of loan
12 recipients by year who either (i) have met employment service requirements for loan forgiveness
13 or (ii) elect cash loan repayment, including when years of employment are credited towards loan
14 forgiveness prior to beginning cash repayment. The individual records used to generate this report
15 shall be retained for a period of five years."
16 SECTION 1.(b) Notwithstanding G.S. 116-209.45(j), as amended by this section,
17 the State Education Assistance Authority (Authority) shall include initial information on loan
18 recipients of the Forgivable Education Loans for Service Program in its annual report no later
19 than December 1, 2022. This initial information on the loan recipients shall also include the
20 recipients' field of work.
21 SECTION 1.(c) The Authority shall develop and maintain a record-keeping system
22 to track the repayment methods utilized by the recipients of State-funded educational loans that
23 are eligible for forgiveness based on meeting individual program employment service
24 requirements. The record-keeping system shall facilitate meeting data reporting requirements on
25 State-funded educational loan programs, including for (i) the North Carolina Teaching Fellows
26 Program under G.S. 116-209.62(j)(2) and (ii) the Forgivable Education Loans for Service
27 Program under G.S. 116-209.45(j), and inform whether such programs are meeting the
28 employment needs of the State. The Authority shall report on its progress in implementing the
29 record-keeping system required by this section to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight
30 Committee and the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee by January 1,
31 2021.
32 SECTION 2.(a) G.S. 116-209.14 reads as rewritten:
33 "§ 116-209.14. Annual Strategic plan; reports.
34 (a) Strategic Plan. – The Authority shall biennially develop and maintain a strategic plan
35 that sets forth the performance goals of the Authority in administering State-funded financial
36 assistance for postsecondary programs in accordance with State law. The strategic plan shall
*DRS45391-RQza-5A*
 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019
1 include comprehensive performance measures in order to track and evaluate the Authority's
2 effectiveness and progress towards meeting the performance goals established in the strategic
3 plan. The Authority shall make the most recent strategic plan publicly available on its Web site
4 each year.
5 (b) Annual Reports. – The Authority shall, following the close of each fiscal year, publish
6 an annual report of the implementation of its strategic plan and its activities for the preceding
7 year to the Governor and the General Assembly. Each report shall set forth include at least the
8 following information:
9 (1) The strategic plan adopted by the Authority pursuant to subsection (a) of this
10 section.
11 (2) a A complete operating and financial statement covering the operations of the
12 Authority during the year.
13 (3) Data metrics on the administration of State-funded financial assistance
14 programs and recipients of financial assistance, including the following:
15 a. Information for each postsecondary institution enrolling students
16 using State-funded financial assistance, including the amount of
17 financial assistance used by students for each program administered
18 by the Authority.
19 b. Demographic information on students who receive State-funded
20 financial assistance, including socioeconomic profiles with income
21 and dependency status for that fiscal year.
22 (c) Oversight. – The operations of the Authority shall be subject to the oversight of the
23 State Auditor pursuant to Article 5A of Chapter 147 of the General Statutes."
24 SECTION 2.(b) By January 1, 2021, the Authority shall report to the Joint
25 Legislative Education Oversight Committee and the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation
26 Oversight Committee on its progress in meeting the requirements set forth in subsection (a) of
27 this section.
28 SECTION 2.(c) Subsection (a) of this section is effective July 1, 2021.
29 SECTION 3. Effective July 1, 2020, there is appropriated from the General Fund to
30 the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina the sum of up to seven hundred
31 thousand dollars ($700,000) in recurring funds for the 2020-2021 fiscal year to be allocated to
32 the State Education Assistance Authority each fiscal year to cover administrative costs associated
33 with The University of North Carolina Need-Based Financial Aid Program (Program).
34 SECTION 4. The Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) shall develop
35 recommendations on increasing transparency in administrative cost reporting for the Need-Based
36 Scholarships for Students Attending Private Institutions of Higher Education Program
37 established under Article 34 of Chapter 116 of the General Statutes. The recommendations shall
38 include a method for reporting program funding received by the Authority in its financial
39 statements. OSBM shall report on the recommendations, including a time line for implementation
40 of proposed changes and any required legislative modifications, to the Joint Legislative
41 Education Oversight Committee and the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight
42 Committee by June 30, 2020.
43 SECTION 5. Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes
44 law.
Page 2 DRS45391-RQza-5A*


Statutes affected:
Filed: 116-209.45, 116-209.14
Edition 1: 116-209.45, 116-209.14