(a) There shall be an account to be known as the private occupational school student protection account within the General Fund. Each private occupational school authorized in accordance with the provisions of sections 10a-22a to 10a-22o, inclusive, shall pay to the State Treasurer an amount equal to four-tenths of one per cent of the tuition received by such school per calendar quarter exclusive of any refunds paid, except that distance learning and correspondence schools authorized in accordance with the provisions of sections 10a-22a to 10a-22o, inclusive, shall contribute to said account only for Connecticut residents enrolled in such schools. Payments shall be made by January thirtieth, April thirtieth, July thirtieth and October thirtieth in each year for tuition received during the three months next preceding the month of payment. In addition to amounts received based on tuition, the account shall also contain any amount required to be deposited into the account pursuant to sections 10a-22a to 10a-22o, inclusive. Said account shall be used for the purposes of section 10a-22v. Any interest, income and dividends derived from the investment of the account shall be credited to the account. All direct expenses for the maintenance of the account may be charged to the account upon the order of the State Comptroller. The executive director may assess the account for all direct expenses incurred in the implementation of the purposes of this section which are in excess of the normal expenditures of the Office of Higher Education.

(b) Payments required pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall be a condition of doing business in the state and failure to make any such payment within thirty days following the date on which it is due shall result in the loss of authorization under section 10a-22f. Such authorization shall not be issued or renewed if there exists a failure to make any such payment in excess of thirty days following the date on which it is due.

(c) If an audit conducted by the Office of Higher Education determines that a school has paid into the private occupational school student protection account an amount less than was required, the school shall pay such amount plus a penalty of ten per cent of the amount required to the State Treasurer within thirty days of receipt of notice from the executive director or his designee of the amount of the underpayment and penalty.

(d) If an audit conducted by the Office of Higher Education determines that a school has paid into the private occupational school student protection account an amount more than was required, subsequent payment or payments by the school shall be appropriately credited until such credited payment or payments equal the amount of the overpayment.

(P.A. 77-440, S. 1; P.A. 78-158, S. 1, 4; P.A. 79-380, S. 13; P.A. 83-150, S. 1, 4; P.A. 84-176, S. 3, 5; P.A. 93-294, S. 14, 17; P.A. 94-95, S. 8; P.A. 95-226, S. 20, 30; P.A. 97-285, S. 1, 2; P.A. 99-192, S. 1, 2; May 9 Sp. Sess. P.A. 02-1, S. 128; P.A. 06-150, S. 17; P.A. 09-99, S. 9; P.A. 11-48, S. 241; P.A. 12-156, S. 56; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5, S. 430; P.A. 16-24, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 78-158 required payment to treasurer of one-half of 1%, rather than 1%, of tuition received, rather than of tuition paid by newly enrolled students, excepted refunds and made special provision for payments relative to correspondence and home study schools, revised payment schedule slightly and allowed state board to assess fund for expenses incurred in implementation of section which exceed normal expenses for accounting, auditing and clerical services in Subsec. (a); P.A. 79-380 replaced references to repealed Sec. 10-8 with references to Secs. 10-7a to 10-7l and substituted “authorized” and “authorization” for “licensed” and “licensure”; P.A. 83-150 changed name from “Proprietary School Default Assurance Fund” to “Private Occupational School Student Protection Fund”, deleted obsolete reference to payments made in 1978 and authorized commissioner of education and department of education rather than state board of education to administer fund; P.A. 84-176 added Subsecs. (c) and (d) re treatment of overpayments and underpayments to the fund; P.A. 93-294 made changes necessitated by the transfer of authority for the authorization of schools from the department of education to the department of higher education, added Subsec. (a)(2) re the fiscal years ending June 30, 1994 and June 30, 1995, and made technical changes, effective July 1, 1993; Sec. 10-14i transferred to Sec. 10a-22u in 1995; P.A. 94-95 changed name of fund from “Private Occupational School Student Protection Fund” to “private occupational school student protection account”; P.A. 95-226 extended Subdiv. (2) to the fiscal years ending June 30, 1996, and June 30, 1997, increased the limit for personnel and administrative services from $100,000 to $118,000 and made a technical change, effective July 1, 1995; (Revisor's note: In 1997 references in Subsecs. (c) and (d) to “Private Occupational School Student Protection Fund” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “private occupational school student protection account” to conform said Subsecs. with Subsec. (a) as amended by P.A. 94-95); P.A. 97-285 amended Subdiv. (2) of Subsec. (a)(2) to substitute the fiscal years ending in 1998 and 1999 for the fiscal years ending in 1996 and 1997, to increase the amount from $118,000 to $150,000, to set the limit of the annual interest accrual and to specify that the amount transferred be used for positions and responsibilities relating to Secs. 10a-22a to 10a-22k, inclusive, effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 99-192 amended Subsec. (a)(2) to change the dates to the fiscal years ending June 30, 2000, and June 30, 2001, and to increase the amount from $150,000 to $170,000, effective July 1, 1999; May 9 Sp. Sess. P.A. 02-1 amended Subsec. (a) to add a provision that no additional school assessments shall be made if the resources of the protection account exceed $2,500,000, effective July 1, 2002; P.A. 06-150 amended Subsec. (a) to change internal section references; P.A. 09-99 amended Subsec. (a) by requiring that student protection account contain amounts deposited pursuant to Secs. 10a-22a to 10a-22o, effective July 1, 2009; P.A. 11-48 replaced “Commissioner of Higher Education” and “commissioner” with “executive director” and replaced “Department of Higher Education” with “Office of Financial and Academic Affairs for Higher Education”, effective July 1, 2011; pursuant to P.A. 12-156, “Office of Financial and Academic Affairs for Higher Education” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Office of Higher Education”, effective June 15, 2012; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-5 amended Subsec. (a) by changing “one-half” to “four-tenths”, deleting “for accounting, auditing and clerical services”, deleting former Subdiv. (2) re assessment of account for fiscal years ending June 30, 2000, and June 30, 2001, and making a conforming change, effective July 1, 2015; P.A. 16-24 amended Subsec. (a) by adding “distance learning and” and deleting “and home study”, effective July 1, 2016.