Maryland2026Active
HB0028
Rules for Private Career School Advertising Before Approval
Last scannedAug 22, 2026, 4:24 AM
In one sentence
This law allows the Secretary of Higher Education to let certain private career schools advertise and collect contact information before they get official approval, as long as they follow strict rules about what they share.
What it does
- Allows the Secretary of Higher Education to approve requests from new private career schools to advertise and collect contact information before receiving an operating certificate.
- Requires approved schools to only advertise facts about their opening date, programs offered, and how students can apply.
- Mandates that all advertisements must include a statement saying the school's approval is still pending.
- Prohibits these schools from collecting fees or signing enrollment agreements with potential students before they are fully approved.
- Requires the Secretary to create rules explaining how schools can ask for permission to advertise under this law.
Who it affects
- Private career schools in Maryland that have not yet received a certificate of approval from the state commission.
- The Secretary of Higher Education, who must review requests and write new regulations.
- Potential students looking for training programs at these specific schools.
Limits and unknowns
- This law does not say exactly which schools will be allowed to advertise, only that the Secretary can approve some requests.
- The specific rules for how schools apply and what they must do are not written here; the Secretary must create them later.
Plain language
Terms to know
- Private career school
- A privately owned and operated postsecondary institution that trains individuals to become skilled or semiskilled workers or technicians, but is not a traditional college or university.
- Certificate of approval
- The official document from the Maryland Higher Education Commission that allows a private career school to legally operate in the state.
Official record
Sources
Official summary
Authorizing the Secretary of Higher Education to allow certain private career schools to advertise certain information and collect contact information from potential new students before receiving a certificate of approval from the Maryland Higher Education Commission to operate a private career school in the State under certain circumstances; requiring an approved private career school to advertise only information relating to the opening of the private career school and include a certain disclosure; etc.
Official activity
Bill history
- In the Senate - First Reading Education, Energy, and the Environment