HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 746        FILED ON: 1/14/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1247

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Andres X. Vargas and Dylan A. Fernandes

_________________

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 requiring institutions of higher education to provide uniform financial aid information to accepted applicants.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Andres X. Vargas

3rd Essex

1/14/2019

Dylan A. Fernandes

Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket

1/16/2019

Tommy Vitolo

15th Norfolk

1/28/2019

Brian M. Ashe

2nd Hampden

1/28/2019

Patrick Joseph Kearney

4th Plymouth

1/29/2019

Julian Cyr

Cape and Islands

1/31/2019

Mindy Domb

3rd Hampshire

1/31/2019

James K. Hawkins

2nd Bristol

1/31/2019

Jeffrey N. Roy

10th Norfolk

1/31/2019


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 746        FILED ON: 1/14/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1247

By Messrs. Vargas of Haverhill and Fernandes of Falmouth, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1247) of Andres X. Vargas, Dylan A. Fernandes and others relative to requiring institutions of higher education to provide uniform financial aid information to accepted applicants.  Higher Education.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

_______________

 

An Act requiring institutions of higher education to provide uniform financial aid information to accepted applicants.

 

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, as so appearing in the 2016 official edition, 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 however, that “accepted applicant” shall include a transfer student accepted into a full-time undergraduate program at an institution of higher education.

“Institution of higher education”, a 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 or 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 U.S.C. 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 applicant’s decision to enroll in the institution of higher education. The uniform financial aid information shopping sheet shall be provided to an accepted applicant within a reasonable time prior to the institution’s enrollment deadline. An institution of higher education may additionally provide: (i) an electronic version of the uniform financial aid information shopping sheet in a printable format; (ii) an electronic version of the uniform financial aid information shopping sheet that is readable on a mobile device; or (iii) both.

(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 any term defined within the uniform financial aid information shopping sheet shall have the same meaning in any additional financial aid information provided by an institution of higher education.

(d) The department of higher education may promulgate regulations to implement 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, as so appearing, beginning in the 2020-2021 academic year.