N.Y. Financial Services Law § 901

§ 901. Definitions. As used in this article:\n 1. "Fiscal year" means the twelve-month period that the private\neducation creditor uses for financial reporting and budgeting.\n 2. "Higher education" means higher education, including career\neducation, as those terms are defined in section two of the education\nlaw, via correspondence, online, or in person, regardless of whether the\nhigher education institution is accredited within New York state.\n 3. "Higher education expense" means any expense arising from higher\neducation.\n 4. "Private education creditor" means any person engaged in the\nbusiness of securing, making, or extending a private education debt, or\nany holder of a private education debt, including providers of higher\neducation to which a student education debt is owed. "Private education\ncreditor" shall not include the following persons, only to the extent\nthat state regulation is preempted by federal law:\n (a) any federally chartered bank, savings bank, savings and loan\nassociation, or credit union;\n (b) any bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, or credit\nunion organized under the laws of this or any other state;\n (c) any wholly owned subsidiary of a federally chartered bank or\ncredit union; and\n (d) any operating subsidiary where each owner of the operating\nsubsidiary is wholly owned by the same federally chartered bank or\ncredit union.\n 5. "Private education debt" means an extension of credit or debt or\nobligation owed or incurred by a consumer, contractual or otherwise,\ncontingent or absolute, that meets all of the following criteria:\n (a) is not made, insured, or guaranteed under Title IV of the Higher\nEducation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. s.1070 et seq.);\n (b) is extended to a consumer expressly, in whole or in part, for, or\naccrues from nonpayment of, higher education expenses, regardless of\nwhether the credit or debt or obligation is owed to the provider of\nhigher education that the student attends; and\n (c) shall not include any loan that is secured by real property or a\ndwelling.\n "Private education debt" shall include extensions of credit or debt or\nobligations owed or incurred to refinance a private education debt.\n 6. "Provider of higher education" or "school" means a person engaged\nin the business of higher education. For the purposes of this\ndefinition, a person need not have obtained authorization from the\ndepartment of education to operate in this state and need not be an\naccredited institution.\n