HB417: HB417 Education; tuition equalization grants at private colleges and universities; revise definition of approved school

Georgia's tuition equalization grant (TEG) program helps students pay for private college by sending state grant money to eligible private institutions. To qualify as an 'approved school' under this program, a proprietary (for-profit) institution must meet a list of requirements spelled out in O.C.G.A. § 20-3-411, including being based in Georgia for a certain period of time and meeting all requirements by a certain date. HB417 rewrites that definition. It changes the requirement that a school have existed in Georgia for at least ten years, replacing it with a requirement that the school have been located in the state since on or before January 1, 2021. It also moves the deadline for meeting all the approval requirements from January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2021. The bill also lightly rewords the list of factors the Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission considers when approving a school, such as academic quality, staffing, and facilities, without changing what those factors are in substance.

• Replaces the requirement that a proprietary college have existed in Georgia for at least ten years with a requirement that it have been located in the state since on or before January 1, 2021.
• Moves the deadline for a school to have met all approval requirements from January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2021, making the eligibility window more recent.
• Keeps in place the existing requirements that the school be a baccalaureate-granting, Georgia-accredited institution whose students qualify for federal Pell Grants and who have a high school diploma or equivalent.
• Retains the list of criteria the Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission uses to approve a school for tuition equalization grant funds, including course quality, staffing, and facilities, with minor wording changes.

The change affects proprietary (for-profit) private colleges and universities in Georgia seeking approval to receive tuition equalization grant funds, the Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission that reviews their applications, and students at those schools who rely on the grants to help pay tuition.

By updating the qualifying dates, the bill could change which private colleges are eligible to receive state tuition equalization grants, potentially opening the program to newer institutions that would not have qualified under the older 2011 deadline and ten-year existence rule.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 20-3-411(2)(B)(i) to redefine what counts as an approved proprietary institution for tuition equalization grant purposes.
• The existence requirement changes from 'at least ten years' in Georgia to being located in the state 'since on or before January 1, 2021.'
• The deadline for meeting all listed requirements shifts from January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2021.
• Section 1 retains language requiring the institution to be a baccalaureate-granting, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges Level VI accredited school, not a Bible or theology school, domiciled and incorporated in Georgia.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision.

1. 2025-02-18House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-13House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-12House Hopper (House)

• Houston Gaines (R, HD-120)Primary sponsor
• Bill Hitchens (R, HD-161)
• Robert Dickey (R, HD-134)
• Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)

• tuition equalization grants
• private colleges
• higher education funding
• college financial aid