Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE
                              [First Reprint]
                               ASSEMBLY, No. 4924
                             STATE OF NEW JERSEY
                              220th LEGISLATURE
                                           DATED: MARCH 31, 2023
                                                  SUMMARY
    Synopsis:                   Authorizes Higher Education Student Assistance Authority to award
                                summer tuition aid grants in summer of 2023; appropriates $1,000.
    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 2024
    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 2024 associated with
     providing tuition aid grants for coursework completed in summer 2023.
                                            BILL DESCRIPTION
     This bill authorizes the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority to award State-funded
summer tuition aid grants to eligible students in the summer 2023 semester. The bill provides that
a student’s receipt of a summer tuition aid grant is not to reduce the amount of a tuition aid grant
awarded to the student during the academic year; be included when determining the student’s
maximum tuition aid grant awards; or otherwise adversely affect the student’s eligibility for other
State student financial aid awards.
     The bill requires a summer tuition aid grant to be prorated against the full-time tuition aid grant
awarded in the preceding semester so that a student enrolled in six to eight credits will receive half
of the value of the full-time award and a student enrolled in nine to 11 credits will receive three-
quarters of a full-time award.
     The bill provides that summer tuition aid grants are to be funded by an appropriation of $1,000
included in the bill, in addition to any available amount of unexpended funds from the full-time
tuition aid grant account and any additional appropriation the Legislature may enact.
      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 A4924 [1R]
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                                           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 2024 associated with providing tuition aid grants for
coursework completed in summer 2023. 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 implement the provisions
of this bill.
  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.).