A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to issue guidance and recommendations for institutions of higher education on removing criminal and juvenile justice questions from their application for admissions process.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · September 30, 2026
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
This bill directs the Secretary of Education to create guidance helping colleges and universities remove criminal and juvenile justice questions from their admissions applications. The legislation affects college-bound individuals with criminal or juvenile justice histories, who according to the bill number approximately 70 million Americans with arrest or conviction records. The guidance would recommend that institutions either eliminate these questions from admissions entirely or delay asking them until after admission decisions are made, while providing applicants opportunities to explain their backgrounds. The bill requires the Department of Education to offer training and technical assistance to colleges implementing these recommendations and to establish a resource center sharing best practices, though it does not specify dedicated funding amounts or implementation timelines. The underlying goal is to increase educational access for formerly incarcerated individuals and improve their successful reentry into society.
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