This bill establishes new accountability measures for federal student aid programs by requiring colleges to ensure that career training and degree programs actually prepare students for employment or licensure. Institutions must verify that programs qualifying graduates for licensed professions meet licensure requirements in students' home states and the states where the college markets itself, and distance education programs must be authorized in each state where they enroll students. The bill creates a "debt-to-earnings" system where programs are penalized if student loan payments exceed 20 percent of discretionary earnings or 8 percent of total earnings for two of any three consecutive years, automatically triggering student warnings and loss of federal funding eligibility for three years. The Department of Education must annually calculate and publish these performance metrics using earnings data from the IRS and Social Security and notify institutions of failures within 45 days. These requirements apply across all types of institutions receiving federal student aid, including proprietary schools, vocational institutions, and traditional colleges, with no special exemptions for particular professions.
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