SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2018 SESSION

  • print version
Senate Committee on Education and Health
Subcommittee Higher Education

Saslaw (Chairman), Black, Chase, Cosgrove, Petersen

Clerk: Patty Lung
Staff: Thomas Stevens
Date of Meeting: January 18, 2018
Time and Place: Immed. Upon Adj. - Sen. Comm. Room 3, 5th Floor
Revised to add SB 439 & SB 836

S.B. 143

Patron: Spruill

Mortuary science education; practical experience required. Requires every public institution of higher education that offers a degree in mortuary science to require students to complete practical experience in the areas of funeral service and embalming during the first year of such program. The bill also provides that a person who is duly enrolled in a mortuary education program may assist in embalming while under the supervision of a funeral service licensee or embalmer with an active, unrestricted license issued by the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, provided that such embalming occurs in a funeral service establishment licensed by the Board and in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Board.

S.B. 362

Patron: Howell


Qualified education loan servicers. Prohibits any person from acting as a qualified education loan servicer without first obtaining a license from the State Corporation Commission (SCC) and establishes procedures pertaining to such licenses. Banks, credit unions, and nonprofit institutions of higher education are exempt from the licensing provisions. The servicing of a qualified education loan encompasses (i) receiving any scheduled periodic payments from a qualified education loan borrower pursuant to the terms of a qualified education loan; (ii) applying the payments of principal and interest and such other payments, with respect to the amounts received from a qualified education loan borrower, as may be required pursuant to the terms of a qualified education loan; and (iii) performing other administrative services with respect to a qualified education loan. Qualified education loan servicers are prohibited from, among other things, (a) misrepresenting the amount, nature, or terms of any fee or payment due or claimed to be due on a qualified education loan, the terms and conditions of the loan agreement, or the borrower's obligations under the loan; (b) knowingly misapplying or recklessly applying loan payments to the outstanding balance of a qualified education loan; and (c) failing to report both the favorable and unfavorable payment history of the borrower to a nationally recognized consumer credit bureau at least annually if the loan servicer regularly reports information to such a credit bureau. Violations are subject to a civil penalty not exceeding $2,500. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2019, but provides that applications shall be accepted, and investigations commenced, by the SCC beginning October 1, 2018.

S.B. 373

Patron: DeSteph

Higher education; in-state tuition. Prohibits any percentage increase in in-state tuition or instructional fees for undergraduate students at Virginia's public institutions of higher education that exceeds the annual percentage increase, as determined by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, in the Average Consumer Price Index for all items, all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, from January 1 through December 31 of the year immediately preceding the affected year.

S.B. 377

Patron: DeSteph

Higher education; in-state tuition. Prohibits any percentage increase in in-state tuition or instructional fees for undergraduate students at Virginia's public institutions of higher education that exceeds the annual percentage increase, as determined by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, of the median household income in the Commonwealth, established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, of the calendar year immediately preceding the affected year.

S.B. 394

Patron: Howell

Office of the Qualified Education Loan Ombudsman. Establishes the Office of the Qualified Education Loan Ombudsman (the Office) within the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Office's duties include (i) receiving, reviewing, and attempting to resolve complaints from qualified education loan borrowers; (ii) compiling and analyzing data on such complaints; (iii) assisting qualified education loan borrowers to understand their rights and responsibilities under the terms of qualified education loans; (iv) providing information regarding the problems and concerns of qualified education loan borrowers; (v) analyzing and monitoring the development and implementation of applicable laws and policies; and (vi) disseminating information concerning the availability of the Office to assist qualified education loan borrowers and any other participant in qualified education loan lending, with qualified education loan servicing concerns. The Office is further required to establish and maintain a qualified education loan borrower education course by December 1, 2019.

S.B. 435

Patron: DeSteph

Higher education; members of governing boards; duties. Provides that the primary duty of any member of a governing board of a public institution of higher education is to the Commonwealth. The bill requires that the educational programs for the governing boards of public institutions of higher education, developed by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, shall include presentations on such primary duty.

S.B. 439

Patron: Wexton

Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman. Establishes the Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman within the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman is required to provide timely assistance to any student loan borrower of any student education loan in the Commonwealth. The Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman is further required to establish and maintain a student loan borrower education course that shall cover key loan terms, documentation requirements, monthly payment obligations, income-based repayment options, loan forgiveness, and disclosure requirements.

S.B. 577

Patron: DeSteph

Higher education; in-state tuition. Prohibits any percentage increase in in-state tuition or instructional fees for undergraduate students at Virginia's public institutions of higher education that exceeds the annual percentage increase, as determined by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, in the national average wage index as defined in § 209(k)(1) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 409(k)(1), of the calendar year immediately preceding the affected year.

S.B. 656

Patron: Hanger

Virginia College Savings Plan. Makes several changes to the provisions that establish the Virginia College Savings Plan (the Plan), including (i) clarifying that members of the Plan's governing board (the board) are required to disclose personal interests pursuant to the State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act, (ii) permitting the Plan to maintain an independent disbursement system for the disbursement of prepaid tuition contract benefits, and (iii) requiring each prepaid tuition contract entered into on or after July 1, 2018, to include provisions for the application of tuition prepayments, at a rate equal to the percentage of enrollment-weighted average tuition at public institutions of higher education to be determined by the board, at (a) public institutions of higher education, (b) accredited nonprofit independent or private institutions of higher education, and (c) non-Virginia public and accredited nonprofit independent or private institutions of higher education, provided that no such payment is less than the sum of tuition prepayments made, less any fees as determined by the board.

S.B. 749

Patron: Sturtevant

Higher education; in-state tuition. Prohibits, without the prior statutory approval of the General Assembly, any percentage increase in in-state tuition for undergraduate students at Virginia's public institutions of higher education that exceeds twice the annual percentage increase, as determined by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, in the Average Consumer Price Index for all items, all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, from January 1 through December 31 of the year immediately preceding the affected year.

S.B. 824

Patron: Petersen

Public institutions of higher education; tuition and fee increases; public comment. Prohibits the governing board of each public institution of higher education from approving an increase in undergraduate tuition or mandatory fees without providing students and the public an opportunity to provide public comment at a board meeting at least 30 days prior to any vote on such an increase.

S.B. 836

Patron: DeSteph

Public institutions of higher education; tuition and room and board; enrollment. Requires, for the next two academic years, the tuition charged to Virginia students at each public institution of higher education to be capped at the rate charged to such students for the first academic term of the 2017-2018 academic year. The bill permits, during such two-year period, the room and board charged to such students to be increased on an annual basis in advance of the first academic term of the academic year, but requires the percentage of such increase to be capped at 90 percent of the annual percentage increase in the Average Consumer Price Index for all items, all urban consumers (CPI-U) for the preceding calendar year.