NJ College Students Drowning In Debt (Can These 10 Bills Help?)

If you’re one of the many college students in New Jersey that are facing down outrageous debts – or you're a prospective student thinking about joining them – you may want to put on your rally cap for a package of 10 proposed state laws that would help to make higher education more affordable and reduce student debt in the Garden State.

The bills, which unanimously cleared the New Jersey Senate on Thursday, will now head to the Assembly Higher Education Committee and a possible vote before the full state assembly. (See the list below)

“A college degree has always been a means of professional and economic opportunity in America, especially for students from middle class and low-income families,” State Senate President Steve Sweeney said. “These bills will take meaningful steps in New Jersey to make college more affordable and to minimize student debt.”

Nationwide, students are taking on heavy levels of debt as the burden to finance college has shifted more decisively to students and their families, Sweeney said. In 2004, total student loan debt was $350 billion. It now stands at a startling $1.2 trillion.

Between 1992 and 2012, the average amount owed by a typical student loan borrower who graduated with a bachelor's degree more than doubled to a total of nearly $27,000, Sweeny stated.

• See related article: Thousands Of N.J. College Students Eligible To Cancel Student Loans (Find Out Why)
• See related article: These N.J. Colleges Have The Best Value In America - And The State

Other sponsors and supporters of the 10-bill “College Affordability” package include Senator Sandra Cunningham, the chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, Senator M. Teresa Ruiz, Senator Shirley Turner, Senator Nia Gill, Senator Nilsa Cruz-Perez and Senator Linda Greenstein.

The bills are based on the recommendations of a blue ribbon College Affordability Study Commission on higher education launched in April 2015.

The proposed laws include:

• 3-Plus-1 Degree Programs (S-869) - The bill would allow the creation of 3-Plus-1 degree programs that allow students to complete three years at a county college and one year at a four-year college or university and earn a bachelor’s degree.
• Accelerated 3-Year Degree Programs (S-769) - The bill would allow all four-year institutions to adopt a three-year degree model as an option, especially for students ready to commit to a major early on in their college career.
• Tax Deduction for Student Loans (S-1136) – The bill would allow state income tax deductions for interest on student loans for families with joint incomes up to $160,000 or single incomes to $80,000.
• Degree Caps (S-1265) - The bill would require colleges and universities to cap the credit requirements at 120 credits for bachelor degrees and 60 credits for associate degrees (the bill would allow for waivers for select programs).
• Open Text Books (S-768) - The bill would encourage open resource textbooks, making available digital textbooks as a means of affordable alternatives.
• Dual Enrollment Commission (S-870) - The bill would create a study commission to develop a dual enrollment plan by January of 2018.
• AG Expansion to Summer Semester (S-770) - The bill would allow eligible students to apply their TAG funding towards summer enrollment and offer an option for the three-year accelerated degree at four-year institutions.
• 30 Credit Strategies (S-767) - The bill would encourage students to take a full course load each semester, informing them of the costs and consequences of delayed course work.
• Financial Literacy Instruction Requirement (S-762) - The bill ensures that a student enrolled in high school meet with a guidance counselor during either the second or third year of high school to discuss State and federal tuition assistance programs that could be available to the student to finance postsecondary educational opportunities and the realities of student loan debt.
• Renames and Expands NJSTARS (S-763) - The bill would create the New Jersey HonorScholars Program, replacing the New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship (NJSTARS) and NJSTARS II Programs. The bill would permit students to be eligible for the scholarship if their class rank at the completion of the 11th or 12th grade is in the top 20 percent of their high school class. Current eligibility is limited to the top 15 percent, under NJSTARS.

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