Bill Text: NY S00027 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Expands tuition assistance program awards for students experiencing homelessness.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2025-02-11 - referred to higher education [S00027 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-S00027-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           27

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                       (Prefiled)

                                     January 8, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen. JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education

        AN ACT to amend the education law, in  relation  to  tuition  assistance
          program awards for students experiencing homelessness

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The opening paragraph of item 1 of clause (A)  of  subpara-
     2  graph  (i)  of paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 667 of the educa-
     3  tion law, as amended by section 1 of part DD of chapter 56 of  the  laws
     4  of 2021, is amended to read as follows:
     5    In  the  case  of  students  who have not been granted an exclusion of
     6  parental income, who have qualified as an  orphan,  foster  child,  [or]
     7  ward  of  the  court,  or  homeless  for the purposes of federal student
     8  financial aid programs authorized by Title IV of  the  Higher  Education
     9  Act  of  1965,  as amended, are deemed homeless under the federal McKin-
    10  ney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended, or had  a  dependent  for
    11  income tax purposes during the tax year next preceding the academic year
    12  for  which  application is made, except for those students who have been
    13  granted exclusion of parental income who have  a  spouse  but  no  other
    14  dependent:
    15    §  2.  Section  661  of  the  education law is amended by adding a new
    16  subdivision 8 to read as follows:
    17    8. Homeless status. The president shall  promulgate  rules  and  regu-
    18  lations for a uniform verification method of a student's status as home-
    19  less  to be used for all awards and loans made pursuant to this article.
    20  Such rules and regulations shall utilize the same method of verification
    21  of homelessness as federal student financial aid programs authorized  by
    22  Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, or the federal
    23  McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00078-01-5
        S. 27                               2

     1    §  3. Subdivision 4 of section 663 of the education law, as amended by
     2  section 1 of part X of chapter 56 of the laws of 2014,   is  amended  to
     3  read as follows:
     4    4.  Relinquishing of parental control. In determining the amount of an
     5  award, the president may, in cases of  unusual  and  exceptional  family
     6  circumstances  warranting  such  action, recognize an existing condition
     7  wherein parental control has in effect been relinquished by the  parents
     8  or  others  responsible  for  the  applicant,  and  notwithstanding  the
     9  provisions of subdivision three of this section, the  applicant  has  in
    10  effect been emancipated. Provided, however, that students who have qual-
    11  ified  as an orphan, foster child, or ward of the court for the purposes
    12  of federal student financial aid programs authorized by Title IV of  the
    13  Higher  Education Act of 1965, as amended, or the federal McKinney-Vento
    14  Homeless Assistance Act, as amended, shall not be considered emancipated
    15  for the purposes of determining an award pursuant to section six hundred
    16  sixty-seven of this article. The  criteria  used  in  determining  these
    17  cases  of  unusual  and exceptional family circumstances shall be estab-
    18  lished by the president with the approval of the board of  trustees  and
    19  the director of the division of the budget.
    20    §  4.  This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
    21  the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the
    22  addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule  or  regulation  necessary
    23  for  the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized
    24  to be made and completed on or before such effective date.