Bill Text: NJ S2252 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires public research universities and State colleges to develop policies and implement accounting procedures on mandatory student fees.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-06-06 - Withdrawn from Consideration [S2252 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-S2252-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator SHIRLEY K. TURNER
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
SYNOPSIS
Requires public research universities and State colleges to develop policies and implement accounting procedures on mandatory student fees.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning student fees at four-year public institutions of higher education and supplementing chapter 3B of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The governing board of a public research university or a State college shall:
a. develop written policies and procedures that establish a system of internal controls over the development and management of mandatory student fees and ensure that these controls are applied consistently. The written policies shall define who is responsible for the assessment or adjustment of the mandatory student fees, and shall include guidelines for monitoring whether mandatory student fee revenue is used efficiently and for the intended purpose;
b. assess each of the institution's mandatory student fees individually and document the criteria and justification for any adjustments made to the fees. For each mandatory student fee the documentation shall include, at a minimum, the purpose of the student fee, the criteria used to determine its rates, the projected mandatory fee revenue, and the appropriate use of the revenue;
c. establish separate funds in the institution's budget for each individual mandatory student fee to promote transparency of fee revenue and expenditures;
d. implement accounting procedures that establish a process to accurately identify transactions related to mandatory student fee activity and the expenditures related to each of the mandatory student fees; and
e. include in the institution's description of its mandatory student fees, all uses of the fee monies including salaries.
2. This act shall take effect in the first full academic year following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill implements the recommendations of the April 27, 2016 report of the State Comptroller entitled, Controls Over Collection, Allocation And Use Of Student Fees At Selected New Jersey Colleges and Universities. The report looked at the issue of mandatory student fees at three of the State colleges. This bill would apply the State Comptroller's recommendations to all four-year public institutions of higher education.
Under the bill, the governing board of a public research university or a State college would be required to do the following:
· Develop written policies and procedures that establish a system of internal controls over the development and management of mandatory student fees and ensure that these controls are applied consistently;
· Assess each of the institution's mandatory student fees individually and document the criteria and justification for any adjustments made to the fees;
· Establish separate funds in the institution's budget for each individual mandatory student fee to promote transparency of fee revenue and expenditures;
· Implement accounting procedures that establish a process to accurately identify transactions related to mandatory student fee activity and the expenditures related to each of the mandatory student fees; and
· Include in the institution's description of its mandatory student fees, all uses of the fee monies including salaries.
