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Attorney general warns enforcement costs for bill targeting deceptive degree programs; university system objects to data burden
Summary
Supporters said HB 722 is a consumer‑protection tool to challenge educational programs whose tuition cannot be repaid by typical graduate earnings; the University System of New Hampshire and the Attorney General’s consumer bureau raised concerns about data availability and enforcement resources.
Representative Corcoran introduced House Bill 722, a consumer‑protection proposal intended to allow challenges to educational programs whose costs are “deceptive” because typical graduates cannot reasonably repay tuition from expected earnings. Corcoran said the goal is to prevent young people from being steered into costly degrees that leave them in long‑term debt.
Lauren Banker, director of government relations for the University System of New Hampshire, testified in opposition. Banker said the university system cannot currently produce the precise program-level earnings data the bill would require; the federal government is collecting and publishing related outcome data and the campuses just submitted required records to federal regulators. She warned HB 722 would create duplicative reporting burdens and additional administrative and financial costs at a time when campuses face constrained resources.
Brandon Garrod, senior assistant attorney general and chief of the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau, testified neither for nor against the bill but warned the committee the new statute would create a substantial enforcement workload. Garrod said the attorney general’s office receives consumer complaints and that the bureau’s current staffing would struggle to investigate a potential ten‑year private-right-of-action workload of graduate complaints; he estimated meaningful enforcement would require additional staff and data availability from universities.
Representative Corcoran said the bill is intended to add an enforcement option and to create incentives for institutions to evaluate program pricing and outcomes. Committee members asked about retroactivity and whether a private citizen would be expected to gather the data needed to prove a claim; Corcoran said the bill provides a private right of action and that the petitioner would bear proof, as in other consumer-protection claims. No committee vote was taken at the hearing.
