BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 887

By: Seliger

Higher Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties note the growth of student loan debt in Texas and the stated goal of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in reducing that debt. S.B. 887 seeks to work toward this goal by giving students the ability to make more informed choices regarding student loans and to better understand the short-term and long-term consequences of those choices.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 887 amends the Education Code to require a participating higher educational institution under the student loan program that enrolls one or more students receiving state financial aid administered by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and that receives education loan information for a student enrolled at the institution to provide to that student at least annually certain estimates regarding the student's education loan obligations in an electronic form. The bill limits this required disclosure to education loan debt information regarding the student that the institution receives or otherwise obtains from the U.S. Department of Education central database for student aid and may reasonably collect from its own records and requires the disclosure to identify the types of education loans included in the institution's estimates and to include a statement that the disclosure is not a complete and official record of the student's education loan debt and an explanation regarding why the disclosure may not be complete or accurate. The bill exempts a participating higher educational institution from liability for any representation made under the bill's provisions and requires the coordinating board to adopt rules for the administration of those provisions. The bill applies beginning with the 2018-2019 academic year.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2017.