As used in this article:

1. 1. "Fiscal year" means the twelve-month period that the private education creditor uses for financial reporting and budgeting.
2. 2. "Higher education" means higher education, including career education, as those terms are defined in section two of the education law, via correspondence, online, or in person, regardless of whether the higher education institution is accredited within New York state.
3. 3. "Higher education expense" means any expense arising from higher education.

4. 4. "Private education creditor" means any person engaged in the business of securing, making, or extending a private education debt, or any holder of a private education debt, including providers of higher education to which a student education debt is owed. "Private education creditor" shall not include the following persons, only to the extent that state regulation is preempted by federal law:

   1. (a) any federally chartered bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, or credit union;
   2. (b) any bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, or credit union organized under the laws of this or any other state;
   3. (c) any wholly owned subsidiary of a federally chartered bank or credit union; and
   4. (d) any operating subsidiary where each owner of the operating subsidiary is wholly owned by the same federally chartered bank or credit union.

5. 5. "Private education debt" means an extension of credit or debt or obligation owed or incurred by a consumer, contractual or otherwise, contingent or absolute, that meets all of the following criteria:

   1. (a) is not made, insured, or guaranteed under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. s.1070 et seq.);
   2. (b) is extended to a consumer expressly, in whole or in part, for, or accrues from nonpayment of, higher education expenses, regardless of whether the credit or debt or obligation is owed to the provider of higher education that the student attends; and
   3. (c) shall not include any loan that is secured by real property or a dwelling. "Private education debt" shall include extensions of credit or debt or obligations owed or incurred to refinance a private education debt.
6. 6. "Provider of higher education" or "school" means a person engaged in the business of higher education. For the purposes of this definition, a person need not have obtained authorization from the department of education to operate in this state and need not be an accredited institution.