ESC-44-07-00007-P New York State Nursing Faculty Loan Forgiveness Incentive Program

10/31/07 N.Y. St. Reg. ESC-44-07-00007-P

NEW YORK STATE REGISTER

VOLUME XXIX, ISSUE 44

October 31, 2007

RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES

HIGHER EDUCATION SERVICES CORPORATION

PROPOSED RULE MAKING

NO HEARING(S) SCHEDULED

 

I.D No. ESC-44-07-00007-P

New York State Nursing Faculty Loan Forgiveness Incentive Program

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:

Proposed action:

This is a consensus rule making to amend section 2201.6 of Title 8 NYCRR.

Statutory authority:

Education Law, sections 653(9), 655(4) and 679-d

Subject:

New York State Nursing Faculty Loan Forgiveness Incentive Program.

Purpose:

To implement the New York State Nursing Faculty Loan Forgiveness Incentive Program.

Text of proposed rule:

Section 2201.6 of Title 8 of the New York Code, Rules and Regulations is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 2201.6 New York State Nursing Faculty Loan Forgiveness Incentive Program

(a) Authority: The provisions contained within this regulation are made pursuant to authority granted to the Higher Education Services Corporation in sections 653, 655, and 679-d of the Education Law

(b) Definitions:

(1) “Year” or “Academic year” means one calendar year beginning July 1st and concluding on June 30th.

(2) “Nursing Degree Program” means those classes that are related to the diploma or degree in professional nursing (including non-nursing electives) and to classes in doctoral programs that qualify applicants as nursing faculty or adjunct clinical faculty, but does not include classes or loans obtained for a non-nursing degree.

(3) “Faculty” means a position that is primarily teaching, rather than administrative or research.

(4) “Loans” means New York State or federal governmental loans, or loans made by commercial entities subject to governmental examination, related to the nursing degree program. It does not, however, include parent PLUS loans, or loans that may be canceled under any other program including Perkins loans, or private loans given for example by family or friends, or student loan debts paid via credit card.

(c) Eligibility: In addition to those requirements already provided in sections 661 and 679-d of the Education Law, these additional requirements shall apply in the selection of the program recipients:

(1) Applications for the New York State Nursing Faculty Loan Forgiveness Incentive Program shall be postmarked or electronically transmitted no later than August 1st of each year, provided that this deadline may be extended at the discretion of the corporation;

(2) Applications shall be filed annually on forms prescribed by the corporation;

(3) The pool of applicants shall be those who have successfully met the filing deadline;

(4) Applications shall be for prior academic year faculty services, except as provided in paragraph 5 of this subdivision.

(5) Applications for retroactive awards for faculty services provided between January 1, 2001 and June 30, 2004 shall be received by January 1, 2006.

(6) Eligibility for loan forgiveness is based on the duties presented in an official position description, not on the position title.

(7) Recipients shall receive loan forgiveness if they are simultaneously teaching in a part-time status at more than one nursing school, provided that the total number of credit hours is in conformity with the requirements of this program.

(8) Recipients shall receive loan forgiveness only for those classes applicable to their nursing degree programs, or to the doctoral program that qualified them as nursing faculty or adjunct clinical faculty, not for loans obtained for a non-nursing degree.

[(9) First priority shall be given to applicants who have received payment of an award pursuant to section 679-d of the Education Law in a prior academic year.

(10) If there shall not be enough appropriated funds to grant loan forgiveness to all eligible applicants, second priority shall be given to those recipients with loans guaranteed by the corporation.

(11) If there are more applicants than available funds in any year, the remaining recipients shall be decided by lottery. The lottery shall be conducted by random selection.]

(d) Disqualifications:

The applicant shall be disqualified from receiving an award for any of the following conditions:

(1) The applicant has a service obligation owed to any other state or federal program.

(2) The applicant has loans for which documentation is not available.

(3) The applicant has loans without a promissory note.

(4) The applicant is in default on a federally guaranteed student loan, except if the loan is guaranteed by the corporation.

(5) The applicant's loans are paid in full.

(e) Amounts:

(1) Recipients who had received awards prior to June 23, 2006 shall be paid according to the following schedule:

(i) ten percent to be awarded upon completion of the first year;

(ii) twenty percent to be awarded upon completion of the second year;

(iii) thirty percent to be awarded upon completion of the third year;

(iv) thirty percent to be awarded upon completion of the fourth year;

(v) the balance or remainder of the award to be paid upon completion of the fifth year;

(vi)[(1)]The annual award shall be a simple percentage of the maximum allowable cap which is the lesser of $40,000.00 or the cumulative amount of the outstanding loans [under section 679d(a)(3) of the Education Law,] and not a percentage of the amount left over from the previous year's award.

(2) Awards made on or after June 23, 2006 shall be paid pursuant to section 679-d of the education law.

[(2)] (3) The maximum lifetime value of the loan forgiveness shall not exceed the amount of eligible student loan debt that was documented with the corporation in the first year of the applicant's participation or forty thousand dollars, whichever is less.

[(3)](4) The corporation may offset any portion of the loan forgiveness if the applicant is in default on a student loan guaranteed by the corporation.

(f) Priorities: If there are more applicants than available funds appropriated by the legislature in any fiscal year, the following provisions shall apply:

(1) First priority shall be given to eligible applicants who have received payment of an award pursuant to section 679-d of the education law for the preceding academic year of qualified service;

(2) Second priority shall be given to eligible applicants who have received payment of an award pursuant to section 679-d of the education law for any prior academic year of qualified service; and

(3) Third priority shall be given to eligible applicants, including re-applicants, who have never received an award and who meet the minimum eligibility requirements.

(4) In the event of a tie within any given priority, recipients shall be chosen by random selection. Random selection shall be conducted by lottery. Lottery shall be the preferred manner of all tie breaking.

Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:

Cheryl B. Fisher, Supervising Attorney, Higher Education Services Corporation, 99 Washington Ave., Rm. 1350, Albany, NY 12255, [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]

Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:

Same as above.

Public comment will be received until:

45 days after publication of this notice.

Consensus Rule Making Determination

This statement is being submitted pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision (1) of section 202 of the State Administrative Procedure Act and in support of New York State Higher Education Services Corporation's (HESC) Notice of Proposed Rule Making seeking to amend section 2201.6 of Title 8 of the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York.

It is apparent from the nature and purpose of this rule that no person is likely to object to the adoption of the rule. The proposed rule implements non-discretionary statutory provisions enacted in 2006 and 2007 concerning the calculation and eligibility of student loan forgiveness awards for nursing faculty in New York State.

Section 679-d of the Education Law establishes the Nursing Faculty Loan Forgiveness Incentive Program by which licensed registered nurses agree to provide twelve (12) semester hours of clinical or classroom instruction in nursing every year for five years. In return, recipients receive annual awards to be used to repay student loans.

Paragraph 3 of subdivision (a) of section 679-d was amended by Chapter 109 of the Laws of 2006. Former paragraph 3 authorized loan forgiveness awards to be calculated as an escalating percentage of a recipient's total outstanding loan amount of up to $40,000.00. New paragraph 3 changes award calculations to equal amounts of $8,000.00 each year over a five year period rather than receiving an escalating annual percentage. This statutory provision has the dual effect of simplifying calculations while allowing recipients to know exactly what their award will be each year.

This proposed regulatory amendment amends subdivisions 1 and 2 of paragraph (e) of section 2201.6 of Title 8 of the NYCRR to reflect this statutory change. In addition, subdivisions 9, 10 and 11 of paragraph (c) were moved to new paragraph (f) to conform to the style of other regulations recently promulgated by the corporation.

Part E-3 of Chapter 57 of the Laws of 2007 further amended section 679-d of the Education Law by expanding program eligibility to include those applicant's with doctorates who wish to earn loan forgiveness in return for providing nursing faculty services in New York State. Accordingly, this proposed regulatory amendment adds the necessary terms throughout the document where needed to reflect this statutory change.

Inasmuch as the proposed consensus rule merely conforms the rule to non-discretionary, statutory provisions which have no negative effects on present, past or future recipients, HESC has determined that there is no basis for any person to object to the proposed rule.

Job Impact Statement

This statement is being submitted pursuant to subdivision (2) of section 201-a of the State Administrative Procedure Act and in support of New York State Higher Education Services Corporation's Notice of Proposed Rule Making seeking to amend section 2201.6 of Title 8 of the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York.

It is apparent from the nature and purpose of this rule that it will not have any adverse impact on jobs or employment opportunities. The proposal implements non-discretionary statutory provisions enacted in 2006 and 2007 concerning eligibility and calculation of annual student loan forgiveness awards for nursing faculty in New York State.