SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1064        FILED ON: 1/19/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 680

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Eileen M. Donoghue

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to uniform financial aid information.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1064        FILED ON: 1/19/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 680

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 2184 OF 2015-2016.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

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An Act relative to uniform financial aid information.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Chapter 15A of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding following section:-

Section 45. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

“Accepted applicant”, an individual who has been accepted to a full-time undergraduate program at an institution of higher education and applied for financial aid; provided further, that the term “accepted applicant” shall include a transfer student accepted into a full-time undergraduate program.

“Institution of higher education”, any public or private college, university, community college, junior college or other institution of higher education chartered, located, offering courses or otherwise doing business within the commonwealth and authorized by the commonwealth to grant degrees.

“Uniform financial aid information shopping sheet”, the financial aid shopping sheet developed by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the United States Department of Education under 20 USC 1001 et. seq.

(b) An institution of higher education shall provide each accepted applicant with a uniform financial aid information shopping sheet to assist the accepted applicant with the decision to enroll in the institution of higher education. The uniform financial aid information shopping sheet shall be provided to an accepted applicant a reasonable time prior to the institution’s enrollment deadline.  An institution of higher education may provide an electronic version of the uniform financial aid information shopping sheet in a printable format.

(c) An institution of higher education may provide additional financial aid information on the uniform financial aid information shopping sheet beyond the required information; provided, however, that additional financial aid information uses terms as defined in the uniform financial aid information shopping sheet.

(d) The department of higher education may promulgate regulations to carry out the purposes of this section.

SECTION 2. The uniform financial aid information shopping sheet shall be provided to all accepted applicants, as required by section 45 of chapter 15A of the General Laws, beginning in the 2018-20198 academic year and each academic year thereafter.