A bill waiting for Gov. Kathy Hochul's signature would create a registry for private student loan debt.

Jordan Daniels, student loan manager at Empire Justice Center, explained that families often turn to private student loans when a federal loan and financial aid don’t quite close the gap.

“Their parents will do anything because they’re good parents to get their kids to go to school, and they will do anything to go to school and get this education — to get the jobs they want, the future they’re being promised, and they’ll pay anything to get there,” she said.

But she warned that they are typically signing over more than they think, agreeing to higher interest rates and none of the protections that apply to federal loans, protections that were far more robust than those for private loans even before recent efforts to overhaul the system.

“Private loans are given by private creditors with their own terms and conditions that are not set by Congress,” she said. “If someone works for 30 years for the state, that counts for absolutely nothing. If you have private loans, you still pay just the same. There is no income driven repayment options.”

Through the bill, lawmakers and advocates want to better understand private student debt and what can be done about it. The registry would keep track of borrowers and their debt, possibly opening the door to new regulations.

It would require private loan issuers operating in New York state to register with the Department of Financial Services if they arent registered already, and annually submit information on their private education debt activity.

“We don’t know the terms and conditions of these loans except for the data we can collect,” Daniels said. “We don’t know the demographics of the people who are taking out these loans, and we don’t know the default rates.”

Not everyone is onboard. The Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities told Spectrum News 1 it supports further transparency on student debt, but criticized the bill for focusing only on private debt.

"New York’s independent, nonprofit colleges and universities support transparency that enables students and families to make informed choices about where to pursue a degree and how to pay for it. The majority of student debt is held or issued mount or interest rate.by the federal government which is exempt from this legislation. As a result, this bill does not provide a clear picture of student debt and who holds it,” the commission said in a statement. “The solution to reducing student debt is increasing student aid. New York’s independent, nonprofit colleges and universities provided over $7.7 billion dollars in institutional financial aid to their students last year, which comprises 91 percent of the financial aid those students received."

Daniels countered that incorporating federal data would be unlikely to alter the demographic information collected.

“It’s the same people, its just whatever leftover that the federal couldn’t cover is what they’re getting in private loans, so the people you’re looking at are usually the same people,” she said.