Bill Text: NJ A2804 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Requires county colleges to develop plan to achieve three-year graduation rate of at least 33 percent for full-time degree-program students by 2019-2020 academic year.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-12-01 - Received in the Senate, Referred to Senate Higher Education Committee [A2804 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2014-A2804-Amended.html

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[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 2804

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

216th LEGISLATURE

INTRODUCED MARCH 24, 2014

 

 

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  THOMAS P. GIBLIN

District 34 (Essex and Passaic)

Assemblywoman  CELESTE M. RILEY

District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)

Assemblyman  JOSEPH CRYAN

District 20 (Union)

Assemblyman  DANIEL R. BENSON

District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblymen Garcia and Coughlin

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Requires county colleges to develop plan to achieve three-year graduation rate of at least 33 percent for full-time degree-program students by 2019-2020 academic year.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As reported by the Assembly Higher Education Committee on October 23, 2014, with amendments.

 

An Act concerning the graduation rates of county colleges and supplementing chapter 64A of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    a.  The board of trustees of a county college, in consultation with the New Jersey Council of County Colleges, shall develop a plan to achieve a three-year graduation rate of at least 33 percent for full-time students enrolled in an associate degree program regularly requiring four semesters to complete, by the 2019-2020 academic year.

     ¹In developing the plan, the board shall factor into the graduation rate the number of students who transfer to a four-year institution of higher education prior to graduation from the county college.¹

     b.    ¹The board of trustees shall establish a study committee to advise and make recommendations to the board on the plan to achieve a three-year graduation rate of at least 33 percent required pursuant to subsection a. of this section. The committee shall consist of three members of the board of trustees, one faculty member selected in consultation with the majority representative of the faculty union, and one student.

     c.¹   The board shall ¹review the recommendations made by the committee and¹ submit the plan by January 1, ¹[2015] 2016¹ to the Secretary of Higher Education for approval. ¹The board shall not submit the plan prior to its review of the committee's recommendations.¹ In the event that the secretary:

     (1) approves the plan, the board shall transmit a copy of the approved plan to the New Jersey Presidents' Council, the Senate Higher Education Committee, and the Assembly Higher Education Committee, or their successor committees; or

     (2) does not approve the plan, the secretary shall provide to the board, in writing, the reasons for the disapproval of the plan. Upon receiving the secretary's reasons for disapproving the plan, the  board shall develop a new plan, in consultation with the council, and resubmit the plan to the secretary within 90 days.

 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.