Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013 - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to require institutions of higher education (IHEs) to submit to the Secretary of Education data that the Secretary determines to be sufficient to complete all student components of reporting required for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Directs the Secretary to review that determination every five years.
Requires the Secretary to: (1) establish common definitions for IHEs to follow in submitting the data required under this Act, and (2) determine both collection and reporting requirements.
Directs the Secretary to require IHEs to identify student unit records to enable coding and reporting on: (1) students who participate in remedial education; (2) whether, and at what level, the student is seeking a degree; and (3) whether the student is seeking a certificate. (Student unit records are used to collect information at the student, rather than institutional, level.)
Requires the Secretary to also calculate, within two years of this Act's enactment, at the institutional and program specific level:
Directs the Secretary to make those student outcome measures and the currently reported student level components of IPEDS available by specified student types that are differentiated on the basis of their: (1) receipt or non-receipt of federal Pell Grants or Stafford Loans, (2) participation in the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Program, (3) enrollment status, and (4) enrollment intensity.
Requires the Secretary, in cooperation with the Commissioner of Social Security, to establish a system which uses the student components of IPEDS to create earnings metrics that allow the publication of median annual earnings and employment data that is disaggregated by: (1) educational program, credential received, school, and state of employment; and (2) the 2-, 6-, and 15-year periods after educational program completion.
Requires the information aggregated by the Secretary under this Act to be made available on IPEDS and posted on a website in a timely and user-friendly manner that protects personally identifiable information.
Requires IHEs, within five years of this Act's enactment, to provide a prominently displayed link on their websites to the website containing such information. Eliminates, within five years of this Act's enactment, IHE data reporting requirements under the HEA that are deemed duplicative.
Directs the Secretary to create a process through which IHEs and states may request and receive from the Department of Education aggregate student outcome data for the purposes of institutional improvement and program evaluation.
Prohibits the unauthorized use of the data collected pursuant to this Act.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1937 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1937
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to update reporting
requirements for institutions of higher education and provide for more
accurate and complete data on student retention, graduation, and
earnings outcomes at all levels of postsecondary enrollment.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 9, 2013
Mr. Hunter (for himself and Mr. Andrews) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to update reporting
requirements for institutions of higher education and provide for more
accurate and complete data on student retention, graduation, and
earnings outcomes at all levels of postsecondary enrollment.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Student Right to Know Before You Go
Act of 2013''.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENTS.
Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1094(a)(17)) is amended by inserting ``, in accordance with section
493E'' after ``of the Secretary''.
SEC. 3. INSTITUTIONAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE INFORMATION FOR
STUDENTS.
Section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(n) Alignment With Institutional Reporting Requirements Related
to IPEDS.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 6 months after the date
of enactment of the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of
2013, the Secretary shall issue guidance outlining which data
metrics required to be submitted by institutions of higher
education under section 493E are duplicative of institutional
reporting requirements under this section and other provisions
of this Act.
``(2) Link to institutional reporting website.--Not later
than 5 years after the date of enactment of the Student Right
to Know Before You Go Act of 2013, an institution of higher
education participating in any program under this title shall--
``(A) not be required to make available such
duplicative requirements, as determined under paragraph
(1), under this section and other provisions of this
Act; and
``(B) provide a prominently displayed link on the
institution's website to the website described in
section 493E(e).''.
SEC. 4. INSTITUTIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Amendment to Database of Student Information Prohibited.--
Section 134(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1015c(b))
is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and'';
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) is necessary to carry out section 493E.''.
(b) Reporting Requirements.--Part G of title IV of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1088 et seq.) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
``SEC. 493E. INSTITUTIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
``(a) In General.--
``(1) Submission of data.--Each institution of higher
education participating in a program under this title shall
submit to the Secretary data, as determined by the Secretary,
sufficient to complete all student components of reporting
required for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
(referred to in this section as `IPEDS'). Not later than 1 year
after the date of enactment of the Student Right to Know Before
You Go Act of 2013, the Secretary shall submit to institutions
of higher education guidance related to the submission of data
under this paragraph.
``(2) Review.--The Secretary shall review, every 5 years,
the determination of the category of data that shall be
submitted pursuant to paragraph (1).
``(b) Establishment of Additional Student Classifications.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of
2013, the Secretary shall--
``(A) establish common definitions for institutions
to follow in submitting the data required under this
section; and
``(B) determine both collection and submission
requirements.
``(2) Identification of unit records.--The Secretary shall
require institutions to identify student unit records to enable
coding and reporting on--
``(A) students who participate in remedial
education at, or through, the institution;
``(B) whether, and at what level, the student is
seeking a degree; and
``(C) whether the student is seeking a certificate.
``(c) Establishment of New Outcome Metrics.--
``(1) In general.--Data submitted to the Secretary under
subsection (a) shall be used to calculate all student
components of IPEDS.
``(2) Additional measures to be calculated.--In addition to
student component outcome measures required to be calculated by
the Secretary on the day before the date of enactment of the
Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013, the Secretary
shall also calculate, not later than 2 years after the date of
enactment of the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of
2013, at the institutional and program specific level:
``(A) The percent of students who receive--
``(i) Federal grants;
``(ii) Federal loans;
``(iii) State grants;
``(iv) State loans;
``(v) institutional grants; or
``(vi) institutional loans.
``(B) The average amount of total Federal loan debt
upon student graduation assumed by students while
enrolled at the institution.
``(C) The average amount of total Federal loan debt
of students who do not complete a program of study 2
years after the students' last known enrollment in any
institution of higher education.
``(D) Student transfer rates by sector of transfer,
which shall be defined as the percentage of students
who leave an institution and successfully enroll in
another institution, including whether the receiving
institution is a public 4-year institution, public 2-
year institution, public less-than-2-year institution,
private nonprofit 4-year institution, private nonprofit
2-year institution, private nonprofit less-than-2-year
institution, private for-profit 4-year institution,
private for-profit 2-year institution, or private for-
profit less-than-2-year institution.
``(E) Rates of continuation to higher levels of
education.
``(F) The percent of students who receive the
degree level they initially sought.
``(G) The outcome measures described in
subparagraphs (A) through (F), in addition to all
student level components of IPEDS required to be
reported on the day before the date of enactment of the
Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013, shall
also be made available on the basis of the following
student type:
``(i) Students who received a Federal Pell
Grant.
``(ii) Students who received a Federal
Stafford Loan, but not a Federal Pell Grant.
``(iii) Students who received neither a
Federal Pell Grant, nor a Federal Stafford
Loan.
``(iv) Students who are identified as
veterans who received assistance under the
Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance
Program under chapter 33 of title 38, United
States Code. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs
shall coordinate with the Secretary to make
available data sufficient to enable such
reporting under this clause.
``(v) Enrollment status, including the
following:
``(I) First-time, full-time
students.
``(II) First-time, part-time
students.
``(III) Non-first-time, full-time
students.
``(IV) Non-first-time, part-time
students.
``(vi) Enrollment intensity while enrolled
at the institution, including the following:
``(I) Full-time only.
``(II) Part-time only.
``(III) Mixed enrollment, both
full- and part-time.
``(H) Other information determined necessary.
``(d) Linkage to Earnings Record Data.--
``(1) Earnings metrics.--The Secretary, in cooperation with
the Commissioner of Social Security, shall establish a system
under which the student components of IPEDS are used to create
earnings metrics. Such system shall enable the publication of
data on median annual earnings and employment metrics,
disaggregated by--
``(A) educational program based on CIP code;
``(B) credential received;
``(C) educational institution; and
``(D) State of employment.
``(2) Standard time periods for reporting earnings
outcomes.--The Secretary shall make publicly available median
annual earnings disaggregated by the categories described in
subparagraphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (1) for each of the
following time periods:
``(A) 2 years after educational program completion.
``(B) 6 years after educational program completion.
``(C) 15 years after educational program
completion.
``(e) Public Access to Information.--The information aggregated by
the Secretary under this section shall be included in the IPEDS and
posted on a website in a timely and user-friendly manner and in a way
that does not allow for the dissemination of any personally
identifiable information.
``(f) Ensuring Comparability of Data Metric.--For a period of 5
years following the date of enactment of the Student Right to Know
Before You Go Act of 2013, the Secretary shall be responsible for
publishing all student components of IPEDS as such components would
have been produced on the day before the date of enactment of the
Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013.
``(g) Involvement of States and Leveraging of Investment in
Existing State-Based Systems.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding section 444 of the
General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g, commonly
known as the `Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of
1974') except as provided in paragraph (2), in carrying out
this section, the Secretary shall consult extensively with
State offices with existing student-level data collections from
public and private institutions.
``(2) No sharing of personally identifiable information.--
The Secretary, a State, or institution shall not share
personally identifiable information of a student in carrying
out paragraph (1), except as necessary to enable individuals
who are employed by the Department to meet the reporting
requirements and data dissemination purposes and requirements
under this Act.
``(h) Involvement of Institutions of Higher Education in Developing
Calculation and Reporting Standards.--In carrying out this section, the
Secretary shall consult extensively with institutions of higher
education and State agencies of higher education, particularly in the
formulation of the calculation and reporting standards outlined in
subsections (b), (c), and (d), and the public access to information
under subsection (e).
``(i) Use of Data for Institutional Improvement.--The Secretary
shall create a process through which institutions of higher education
participating in programs under this title and States may request and
receive from the Department aggregate student outcome data for the
purposes of institutional improvement and program evaluation. The
Secretary shall promulgate regulations to ensure fair and equitable
access to such data. In cases where institutional data are merged with
Federal record sets and the resulting data are used for Federal
accountability purposes beyond reporting to the public, the Secretary
shall develop procedures to provide opportunities for institutional
review of the disaggregated merged data.
``(j) Privacy, Security, and Use of Information.--
``(1) Identity protection.--The data system developed under
this section shall not permit an individual to be individually
identified by users of the data system who are not actively
working as database administrators of the system.
``(2) Data audit and data governance systems.--The data
system developed under this section shall include a data audit
system assessing data quality, validity, and reliability and a
data governance system to ensure compliance with all Federal
standards of data quality and individual privacy.
``(3) Prohibition and unauthorized use.--
``(A) In general.--Individual data collected under
this section shall not be used for any purpose not
specifically authorized by Federal law.
``(B) No federal action.--No action of Federal
authority may be taken against an individual based on
data collected within the data system developed under
this section.
``(C) Guidelines.--The Secretary shall issue
guidelines to institutions regarding the amendment of
the institutions required annual privacy notices to
reference the data collection required under this
section.
``(4) Individual privacy and access to data.--Prior to
implementation of this section, the Secretary shall publish for
public comment assurances that--
``(A) that the system developed under this section
does not disclose any personally identifiable
information and complies with the requirements of
section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act (20
U.S.C. 1232g) (commonly known as the `Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act') and other
applicable Federal and State privacy laws; and
``(B) that there is a policy on the use of data
collected under this section that prevents any use of
data outside of the purposes of this section.
``(k) Penalties for Unauthorized Disclosure of Data.--Any
individual who willfully discloses a personal identifier (such as a
name or social security number) provided under this section, in any
manner to an entity not entitled to receive the identifier, shall be
fined under title 18, United States Code, imprisoned not more than 5
years, or both.
``(l) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary
for each of the fiscal years 2014 through 2022.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.
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