[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5779 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5779
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of
Education to create a personal finance education portal on a
centralized website of the Department of Education pertaining to
Federal financial aid.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 28, 2021
Ms. Leger Fernandez (for herself and Mrs. Spartz) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and
Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of
Education to create a personal finance education portal on a
centralized website of the Department of Education pertaining to
Federal financial aid.
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 ``Financial Fitness Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Nearly 43,000,000 people owe an average of $36,406 in
Federal student loans, and student loan debt in the United
States totals $1,730,000,000,000, growing 6 times faster than
the Nation's economy.
(2) Student debt has significant racial equity
implications. Almost half of Black college students are using
Federal student loans to cover educational costs, and Black
college graduates are still substantially more likely than
white college graduates to default on their debt within 4 years
of graduation (7.6 percent versus 2.4 percent of white
graduates). In addition, 4 years after graduation, 48 percent
of Black students owe an average of 12.5 percent more than they
borrowed. Students who are veterans, parents, first-generation
college students, or low income are also likely to face higher
risk of default.
(3) Since before the COVID-19 pandemic, about 23 percent of
Hispanic and Latino college graduates who had taken out loans
for tuition and school expenses were behind on their payments,
in contrast with 6 percent of white student borrowers. Hispanic
and Latino borrowers also were the most likely to delay getting
married and having children due to student loan debt.
(4) Native American financial status remains among the
lowest of all minority populations in the Nation. Native people
are the least likely of all population groups, including other
minorities, to plan for retirement, have an emergency fund, or
have a checking account. Native American and Alaska Native
borrowers take on student loan debt at a rate higher than the
overall population, 76 percent compared to 69 percent.
(5) Among college graduates with any outstanding debt for
their education, first-generation college graduates tend to owe
more. About two-thirds of first-generation college graduates
owe at least $25,000 or more, compared with 57 percent of
second-generation college graduates, and 200,000 United States
service members owe nearly $3,000,000,000 in student loans.
(6) Student debt among older adults has steadily increased,
with many individuals taking on debt to finance higher
education for their children and grandchildren.
(7) Despite the fact that many students and families must
make substantial and highly consequential decisions about
student loan borrowing and face growing college affordability
challenges, less than half of States make personal finance a
core part of basic education.
(8) Just over 2 in 10 non-retirees under age 45 have
retirement savings that meet their age-specific thresholds. 42
percent of Americans age 18-29 have no retirement savings; 26
percent of those age 30-44; 17 percent of those age 45-59; and
13 percent of those over age 60.
(9) People with self-directed retirement savings (nearly 7
in 10 non-retired adults) must make decisions about how the
money is invested. Six in 10 non-retirees with these self-
directed accounts express low levels of comfort in making
investment decisions with their retirement savings.
(10) The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the need to provide
families with better tools to weather financial challenges,
with a rapid spike in unemployment occurring in mid-2020, along
with significant shifts to individuals' housing and
transportation needs.
(11) Nearly 1 in 10 student loan borrowers end up in
default, and even more struggle to repay their loans,
indicating an important need to ensure borrowers can access
information to help them navigate repayment and succeed
financially.
SEC. 3. PERSONAL FINANCE EDUCATION PORTAL.
Section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(n) Personal Finance Education Portal.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the
Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the
Secretary of the Treasury as chair of the Financial Literacy
and Education Commission, and the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue, shall create a personal finance education portal on a
centralized and publicly available website of the Department
pertaining to Federal financial aid for the voluntary use by
recipients of aid awarded under this title.
``(2) Content of personal finance education portal.--The
personal finance education portal created under paragraph (1)
shall include information on personal finance concepts,
including the following:
``(A) Core personal finance concepts, such as
earning, saving, investing, spending, and borrowing,
including--
``(i) the concept of compound growth as it
applies to savings and retirement savings, with
information about the different types of
retirement savings accounts; and
``(ii) budgeting and credit usage.
``(B) Managing student loan repayment, including--
``(i) the interaction between savings and
retirement decisions and Federal student loan
repayment plans;
``(ii) Federal student loan discharge or
forgiveness options;
``(iii) the types of voluntary benefits
employers may use to help workers while they
are paying down student loan debt;
``(iv) tax credits or deductions that are
relevant to student loan borrowers in
repayment; and
``(v) any other Federal policies that
significantly impact student loan borrowers in
repayment, as determined by the Secretary.
``(C) Any other personal finance concepts
determined relevant by the Secretary, in consultation
with the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial
Protection, the Secretary of the Treasury as chair of
the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, and
the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
``(3) Provision of content.--The personal finance content
included under paragraph (2) may be provided in an interactive
format through text or video.
``(4) Analytics.--The Secretary, in consultation with the
Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the
Secretary of the Treasury as chair of the Financial Literacy
and Education Commission, and the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue, shall review not less than once every three years the
utilization of the portal and make such findings publicly
available.
``(5) Authorization of appropriations.--There are
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to
carry out the purposes of this subsection.''.
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