[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1222 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1222
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 regarding proprietary
institutions of higher education in order to protect students and
taxpayers.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 23, 2021
Mr. Cohen (for himself, Ms. Lee of California, and Ms. Eshoo)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Education and Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 regarding proprietary
institutions of higher education in order to protect students and
taxpayers.
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 ``Protecting Our Students and
Taxpayers Act of 2021'' or ``POST Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. 85/15 RULE.
(a) In General.--Section 102(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965
(20 U.S.C. 1002(b)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)--
(A) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``and'' after
the semicolon;
(B) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period at
the end and inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(F) meets the requirements of paragraph (2).'';
(2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
``(2) Revenue sources.--
``(A) In general.--In order to qualify as a
proprietary institution of higher education under this
subsection, an institution shall derive not less than
15 percent of the institution's revenues from sources
other than Federal funds, as calculated in accordance
with subparagraphs (B) and (C).
``(B) Federal education assistance funds.--In this
paragraph, the term `Federal education assistance
funds' means any Federal financial assistance provided,
under this Act or any other Federal law, through a
grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance,
or other means to a proprietary institution, including
Federal financial assistance that is disbursed or
delivered to an institution or on behalf of a student
or to a student to be used to attend the institution,
except that such term shall not include any monthly
housing stipend provided under the Post-9/11 Veterans
Educational Assistance Program under chapter 33 of
title 38, United States Code.
``(C) Implementation of non-federal revenue
requirement.--In making calculations under subparagraph
(A), an institution of higher education shall--
``(i) use the cash basis of accounting;
``(ii) consider as revenue only those funds
generated by the institution from--
``(I) tuition, fees, and other
institutional charges for students
enrolled in programs eligible for
assistance under title IV;
``(II) activities conducted by the
institution that are necessary for the
education and training of the
institution's students, if such
activities are--
``(aa) conducted on campus
or at a facility under the
control of the institution;
``(bb) performed under the
supervision of a member of the
institution's faculty; and
``(cc) required to be
performed by all students in a
specific educational program at
the institution; and
``(III) a contractual arrangement
with a Federal agency for the purpose
of providing job training to low-income
individuals who are in need of such
training;
``(iii) presume that any Federal education
assistance funds that are disbursed or
delivered to an institution on behalf of a
student or directly to a student will be used
to pay the student's tuition, fees, or other
institutional charges, regardless of whether
the institution credits such funds to the
student's account or pays such funds directly
to the student, except to the extent that the
student's tuition, fees, or other institutional
charges are satisfied by--
``(I) grant funds provided by an
outside source that--
``(aa) has no affiliation
with the institution; and
``(bb) shares no employees,
executives, or board members
with the institution; and
``(II) institutional scholarships
described in clause (v);
``(iv) include no loans made by an
institution of higher education as revenue to
the school, except for payments made by
students on such loans;
``(v) include a scholarship provided by the
institution--
``(I) only if the scholarship is in
the form of monetary aid based upon the
academic achievements or financial need
of students, disbursed to qualified
student recipients during each fiscal
year from an established restricted
account; and
``(II) only to the extent that
funds in that account represent
designated funds, or income earned on
such funds, from an outside source
that--
``(aa) has no affiliation
with the institution; and
``(bb) shares no employees,
executives, or board members
with the institution; and
``(vi) exclude from revenues--
``(I) the amount of funds the
institution received under part C of
title IV, unless the institution used
those funds to pay a student's
institutional charges;
``(II) the amount of funds the
institution received under subpart 4 of
part A of title IV;
``(III) the amount of funds
provided by the institution as matching
funds for any Federal program;
``(IV) the amount of Federal
education assistance funds provided to
the institution to pay institutional
charges for a student that were
refunded or returned; and
``(V) the amount charged for books,
supplies, and equipment, unless the
institution includes that amount as
tuition, fees, or other institutional
charges.
``(D) Report to congress.--Not later than July 1,
2020, and by July 1 of each succeeding year, the
Secretary shall submit to the authorizing committees a
report that contains, for each proprietary institution
of higher education that receives assistance under
title IV and as provided in the audited financial
statements submitted to the Secretary by each
institution pursuant to the requirements of section
487(c)--
``(i) the amount and percentage of such
institution's revenues received from Federal
education assistance funds; and
``(ii) the amount and percentage of such
institution's revenues received from other
sources.''.
(b) Repeal of Existing Requirements.--Section 487 of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) by striking paragraph (24);
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (25) through (29)
as paragraphs (24) through (28), respectively;
(C) in paragraph (24)(A)(ii) (as redesignated by
subparagraph (B)), by striking ``subsection (e)'' and
inserting ``subsection (d)''; and
(D) in paragraph (26) (as redesignated by
subparagraph (B)), by striking ``subsection (h)'' and
inserting ``subsection (g)'';
(2) by striking subsection (d);
(3) by redesignating subsections (e) through (j) as
subsections (d) through (i), respectively;
(4) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) of subsection (d)
(as redesignated by paragraph (3)), by striking ``(a)(25)'' and
inserting ``(a)(24)'';
(5) in subsection (f)(1) (as redesignated by paragraph
(3)), by striking ``subsection (e)(2)'' and inserting
``subsection (d)(2)''; and
(6) in subsection (g)(1) (as redesignated by paragraph
(3)), by striking ``subsection (a)(27)'' in the matter
preceding subparagraph (A) and inserting ``subsection
(a)(26)''.
(c) Conforming Amendments.--The Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 152 (20 U.S.C. 1019a)--
(A) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by striking
``subsections (a)(27) and (h) of section 487'' and
inserting ``subsections (a)(26) and (g) of section
487''; and
(B) in subsection (b)(1)(B)(i)(I), by striking
``section 487(e)'' and inserting ``section 487(d)'';
(2) in section 153(c)(3) (20 U.S.C. 1019b(c)(3)), by
striking ``section 487(a)(25)'' each place the term appears and
inserting ``section 487(a)(24)'';
(3) in section 496(c)(3)(A) (20 U.S.C. 1099b(c)(3)(A)), by
striking ``section 487(f)'' and inserting ``section 487(e)'';
and
(4) in section 498(k)(1) (20 U.S.C. 1099c(k)(1)), by
striking ``section 487(f)'' and inserting ``section 487(e)''.
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