ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 4811

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 4811 (1R).

      This bill provides a $20 million supplemental appropriation to the fiscal year (FY) 2025 appropriations act to provide Summer Tuition Aid Grants.  The bill also adds language to the FY 2025 appropriations act: 1) providing that eligible students are to receive 75 percent of the full grant award amount for which they are eligible under current law; and 2) allowing summer tuition aid grants to be funded up to 100 percent of the full statutory amount if there are enough funds available to be transferred from the Tuition Aid Grants account.

      Under current law, the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) is required to offer summer tuition aid grant awards to eligible students who: received a tuition aid grant award in the immediately preceding fall or spring semester; are enrolled in at least six credit hours during the summer semester; and are enrolled in summer coursework for the same undergraduate program at the same institution of higher education in which the student was enrolled during the student’s most recent semester of enrollment in the preceding academic year.  The amount of a student’s summer tuition aid grant is prorated against the full-time tuition aid grant award provided to the student in the preceding semester.  Current law provides that an eligible student enrolled in six to eight credits receives one-half of the value of a full-time award.  An eligible student receives three-quarters of a full-time award if enrolled in nine to 11 credits.

      The $20 million appropriation provided pursuant to the bill for summer tuition aid grants is to fund 75 percent of the maximum amount for which students are otherwise eligible under current law.  However, additional budget language included in the bill permits summer tuition aid grants to be funded up to 100 percent of the full statutory grant award amount if the Executive Director of HESAA projects that there are sufficient funds available as surplus in the Tuition Aid Grants account to fund more than 75 percent of the maximum summer tuition aid grant amounts provided in statute. Based on the projection of available funds, the executive director is required to determine the incremental amount necessary to fund summer tuition aid grant awards at a percentage, above 75 percent, of the maximum summer tuition aid grant amounts, to be determined by the executive director.  The incremental amount determined by the executive director is to be transferred from the Tuition Aid Grants account to the Summer Tuition Aid Grants account.  The transfer is to be subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting (otherwise known as the Office of Management and Budget).

      The summer tuition aid grants authorized pursuant to the bill are to fund awards to eligible students enrolled in courses in the summer 2025 semester.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      This bill is not certified as requiring a fiscal note.