a. According to the Institute for College Access & Success, New Jersey ranks in the top five states nationally for student loan debt amounts, with the average graduate leaving college approximately $34,000 in debt;

b. Despite New Jersey students graduating with significant debt, there is insufficient publicly-available demographic information on the State‘s over one million student loan borrowers;

c. The demographic information that is available, however, shows significant racial disparities in student loan outcomes. Borrowers in New Jersey’s communities of color face default rates two-to-five times higher than white borrowers in the State;

d. Even after factoring in financial aid, the average price of attendance at New Jersey’s four-year public institutions of higher education represents about one-third of household income for the State’s Black and Latino families, compared to just 17 percent of the State’s white families;

e. Stark differences in family wealth in New Jersey have resulted in enormous disparities for students based on race and ethnicity relating to their financial need for college and their ability to pay off student loans;

f. The development and implementation of informed policy to understand and address issues related to student loan debt, including related racial disparities in outcomes, requires access to reliable State-level data on how borrowers experience their debt burden; and

g. Expanding data collection and dissemination of information is crucial for understanding the extent of the burgeoning student debt crisis in particular communities in the State and for developing policies that prioritize equity in loan outcomes for borrowers.

L. 2021, c.349, s.1.