SENATE HEALTH, HUMAN SERVICES AND SENIOR CITIZENS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3547

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MARCH 6, 2023

      The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 3547.

      As amended by the committee, this bill modifies the Nursing Faculty Loan Redemption Program to increase participation rates.  The Nursing Faculty Loan Redemption Program offers student loan redemption up to $50,000 in exchange for full-time faculty employment at a school of nursing in the State for a five-year period following graduate program completion. 

      The bill removes a provision of current law that limits program eligibility to participants who were hired for faculty employment within one year of completion of their academic degree and provides instead that a participant may be employed in any faculty position, including an adjunct faculty position. 

      The bill establishes the loan redemption amounts that will be received by a participant for each year of participation in the program.  Under the bill, for each year of full-time faculty employment at an eligible institution, the program will provide $10,000 to a program participant, up to a maximum five years, for the redemption of eligible student loan expenses.  The bill provides that loan redemption amounts for program participants who do not have full-time faculty employment to be awarded on a pro-rata basis.  The total loan redemption amount provided to a program participant may not exceed $50,000.  The bill provides that no amount of loan redemption will be provided for service performed for less than a full year.  The bill requires loan redemption to be applied first to outstanding State loans and then to outstanding federal loans.  

      The bill directs the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority to work with schools of nursing in the State to provide information on the Nursing Faculty Loan Redemption Program to students upon enrollment.  The bill directs the authority to work with hospitals and medical centers, professional associations, and schools of nursing to promote awareness of the Nursing Faculty Loan Redemption Program and the value of graduate nursing education programs.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amendments provide that loan redemption amounts for program participants who do not have full-time faculty employment are to be awarded on a pro-rata basis.

      The committee amendments define “full-time employment” to mean employment with a faculty load of 12 or more academic credits in each of two semesters in an academic year.

      The committee amendments revise a program eligibility requirement to provide that a participant be employed in a faculty position, which may include an adjunct faculty position, regardless of when the participant was hired.  As introduced, the bill required a participant to be hired for employment on or after the date of the program’s establishment in order to be eligible for the program.