The Governor of California signed a number of bills into law yesterday related to college admissions and financial aid, including a law that limits what can be done to collect on unpaid debts owed to any public or private post-secondary institution.
Among the bills signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom was AB 1313, the Educational Debt Collection Practices Act, which was introduced by Assemblymember Luz Rivas, a Democrat. The bill was one of 35 bills signed into law by the Governor yesterday.
Under the new law, institutions are prohibited from refusing to provide a transcript to a current or former student if the individual has an unpaid debt owed to the school. The law defines debt as any money, obligation, claim, or sum, due or owing, or alleged to be due or owing to the institution.
“Thank you Governor Newsom for signing AB 1313, which gives all of our students a chance to succeed regardless of their financial situation. A recent UC Student Association study highlighted that students of color and low-income students are three times more likely to take on student loan debt than their white and wealthier peers,” said Rivas in a statement. “There are plenty of other options on the table for the collection of debt, but withholding a student’s transcript should not be one of those options. The passage of AB 1313 eliminates higher education institutions’ ability to use the predatory practice of withholding transcripts to collect student debt. California continues to put students first.”
Withholding an individual’s transcript can cause “severe hardship by preventing students from pursuing educational and career opportunities, and it is therefore unfair and contrary to public policy,” according to the legislation.
