Others are just common sense --- like HB230 - Reduction in Financial Aid - Notification - and cost basically nothing.
And one - Delegate Kaiser's local Montgomery County bill to create a Montgomery County Student Loan Financing Authority -- could be a serious game-changer.....with the potential to make paying for college, and repaying student debt, a much easier proposition for hard working Montgomery County residents -- like teachers, nurses, non-profit staffers, civil servants and so on.
Here's a look:
HB 18 – Maryland
Education Opportunity Act – sponsor Del. Haynes
This bill would waive tuition for State residents who enroll
at a community college as a candidate for a vocational certificate or an
associate’s degree within two years after graduation from a MD high school or
completion of a GED. The bill also
establishes a 50% community college tuition discount for State residents who do
not have a high school diploma or GED and have been actively seeking employment
but have been unemployed for at least six months.
Funds for this program would come out of gaming revenues
assigned to the Education Trust Fund.
The major challenge to this bill is the hefty price tag. Here is a link
to the bill’s page on the GA website, you can read all the funding details in
the fiscal note:
The bill is assigned to the House Appropriations committee,
and had an initial hearing on 1/26 – no further action yet. As of 2/9 there is no Senate
cross-file. Here is a link to the
Appropriations committee members – each name is a hyperlink to their contact
information:
HB64 Community College Tuition Tax
Credit – sponsor Del. Haynes
This bill
creates a tax credit against the State income tax for 100% of eligible
community college tuition and fees, not to exceed the tax liability imposed in
the year. The tax credit is limited to
tuition and fees actually paid, not those covered by grants or loans.
Here is a
link to the bill’s page on the GA website:
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=hb0064&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2016RS
The bill is assigned to the House Ways and Means committee,
and had an initial hearing on 1/27– no further action yet. As of 2/9 there is no Senate
cross-file. Here is a link to the Ways
and Means committee members – each name is a hyperlink to their contact
information:
HB
230 – Reduction in student financial aid – notice – Del. Ebersole
This bill would require colleges,
universities etc. which reduce the amount of institutional financial aid to a
student because the student received additional aid from the state or a
501(c)(3) to notifiy the financial aid provider of the reduction in
institutional aid within 30 days.
Here is a link to the bill’s page on
the GA website:
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?pid=billpage&stab=01&id=hb0230&tab=subject3&ys=2016RS
The bill is assigned to the Appropriations
committee, and is set for initial hearing on 2/9. As of 2/1 there is no Senate crossfile. Here
is a link to the Appropriations committee membership – each name is a hyperlink
to the committee member’s contact information:
HB
231 – Student financial aid - reduction prohibited – Del. Stein
The bill would prohibit financial aid
awarded to a student by a public institution of higher education from being
reduced by any other form of financial aid awarded to the student; and prohibit
a public institution of higher education from considering private scholarships
when assembling financial aid packages.
Here is a link to the bill’s page on
the GA website:
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=hb0231&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2016RS
The bill is assigned to the
Appropriations committee, and had an initial hearing on 2/9. Here is a link to the Appropriations
committee membership – each name is a hyperlink to the committee member’s
contact information:
There is a Senate
crossfile – SB313. There is a hyperlink to the Senate bill page on the HB231
bill page. SB313 is assigned to the
Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs committee, and is scheduled
for an initial hearing on 2/10. Here is a link to the EHEA committee members –
each name is a hyperlink to their contact information:
MC27-16 - Montgomery County local bill authorizing the creation of a student loan refinancing authority
This is Del. Kaiser's local bill, which would authorize the County Council to create the Montgomery County Student Loan Refinancing Authority. The purpose of the agency would be to finance post-secondary education for Montgomery County residents.
IMPORTANT - this bill would not create such an Authority, it would authorize the County Council to create a student loan refinancing authority by legislation.
Local bills are those having purely local (county) effect, but requiring General Assembly approval. Here's a link to the local bill information on the Delegation's website:
As of 2/9, the bill hasn't yet been approved by the Montgomery County General Assembly delegation. If the delegation approves the bill, it will be assigned to House/Senate committees for hearing and consideration.
No comments:
Post a Comment