Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1565 To establish a new higher education data system to allow for more accurate, complete, and secure data on student retention, graduation, and earnings outcomes, at all levels of postsecondary enrollment, and for other pur- poses. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 6, 2019 Mr. HUNTER (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, Veterans’ Affairs, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To establish a new higher education data system to allow for more accurate, complete, and secure data on student retention, graduation, and earnings outcomes, at all lev- els of postsecondary enrollment, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Student Right to Know 4 Before You Go Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1565 IH SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) AIDED STUDENT.—The term ‘‘aided stu- 3 dent’’ means a student enrolled in an institution of 4 higher education who has received assistance under 5 a Federal student financial aid program. 6 (2) COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis- 7 sioner’’ means the Commissioner for Education Sta- 8 tistics. 9 (3) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 10 means the Department of Education. 11 (4) FEDERAL STUDENT FINANCIAL AID PRO- 12 GRAM.—The term ‘‘Federal student financial aid 13 program’’ means any of the following: 14 (A) The Federal Pell Grant program under 15 subpart 1 of part A of title IV of the Higher 16 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a et 17 seq.). 18 (B) The Federal Family Education Loan 19 program under part B of such title (20 U.S.C. 20 1071 et seq.). 21 (C) The Federal Direct Loan program 22 under part D of such title (20 U.S.C. 1087a et 23 seq.). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1565 IH (D) The Federal Perkins Loan program 1 under part E of such title (20 U.S.C. 1087aa 2 et seq.). 3 (5) HIGHER EDUCATION DATA SYSTEM.—The 4 term ‘‘higher education data system’’ means the 5 data system established under section 3(a). 6 (6) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 7 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 8 meaning given the term in section 102 of the Higher 9 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 10 (7) IPEDS.—The term ‘‘IPEDS’’ means the 11 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System 12 administered by the Commissioner of Education Sta- 13 tistics. 14 (8) MACHINE-READABLE FORMAT.—The term 15 ‘‘machine-readable format’’ means a format in which 16 information or data can be easily processed by a 17 computer without human intervention while ensuring 18 no semantic meaning is lost. 19 (9) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA- 20 TION.—The term ‘‘personally identifiable informa- 21 tion’’ includes— 22 (A) a student’s name; 23 (B) the name of a student’s parent or 24 other family members; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1565 IH (C) the address of a student or student’s 1 family; 2 (D) a personal identifier, such as a stu- 3 dent’s social security number, student number, 4 or biometric record; 5 (E) other indirect identifiers, such as a 6 student’s date of birth, place of birth, and 7 mother’s maiden name; 8 (F) other information that, alone or in 9 combination, is linked or linkable to a specific 10 student that would allow a reasonable person in 11 the school community, who does not have per- 12 sonal knowledge of the relevant circumstances, 13 to identify the student with reasonable cer- 14 tainty; or 15 (G) information requested by a person who 16 the educational agency or institution reasonably 17 believes knows the identity of the student to 18 whom the education record relates. 19 (10) REPORTING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘report- 20 ing entity’’ means an institution of higher education, 21 Federal agency, or other entity that submits data 22 components for the higher education data system. 23 (11) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 24 means the Secretary of Education. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1565 IH (12) SECURE MULTI-PARTY COMPUTATION.— 1 The term ‘‘secure multi-party computation’’ means a 2 computerized system that enables different partici- 3 pating entities in possession of private sets of data 4 to link and aggregate their data sets for the exclu- 5 sive purpose of performing a finite number of pre- 6 approved computations without transferring or oth- 7 erwise revealing any private data to each other or 8 anyone else. 9 (13) STUDENT-FOCUSED IPEDS METRICS.—The 10 term ‘‘student-focused IPEDS metrics’’ means the 11 aggregate metrics required under IPEDS, as in ef- 12 fect on the day before the date of enactment of this 13 Act, that are student-related and calculated using 14 student-related data components (such as student 15 enrollment rates and graduation rates). 16 SEC. 3. HIGHER EDUCATION DATA SYSTEM. 17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW DATA SYSTEM.—By 18 not later than October 1, 2021, the Secretary, acting 19 through the Commissioner, shall establish and maintain 20 a new higher education data system that meets the re- 21 quirements of subsection (b). 22 (b) REQUIREMENTS OF DATA SYSTEM.—The higher 23 education data system shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1565 IH (1) facilitate the compilation of statistical data 1 necessary to create a robust and useful higher edu- 2 cation data system while minimizing the privacy and 3 security risks by using commercially available tech- 4 nology that, at a minimum, uses technical protection 5 measures that reasonably ensure that— 6 (A) a reporting entity’s raw data, including 7 personally identifiable information, shall not be 8 accessible through the system to the Depart- 9 ment or any party other than the reporting en- 10 tity; 11 (B) no information about the data compo- 12 nents used in the system is revealed by the sys- 13 tem to the Department or any other party, ex- 14 cept as incorporated into the outcome metrics 15 described in section 5; and 16 (C) no data or information that can iden- 17 tify an individual is revealed by the system to 18 the Department or any other party; 19 (2)(A) permit only the Office of the Commis- 20 sioner, directly and not by grant or contract, to per- 21 form statistical queries necessary to determine the 22 outcome metrics described in section 5 using the 23 data components submitted by the reporting entities; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1565 IH (B) prohibit, using commercially available tech- 1 nology, any other queries by the Department or any 2 other party through the system; 3 (3) be resistant, to the extent possible using 4 commercially available technology, to attempts by 5 any party to individually identify individuals in the 6 data components submitted by reporting entities; 7 and 8 (4) minimize, to the extent possible using com- 9 mercially available technology, the privacy risks to 10 individuals whose data has been submitted by a re- 11 porting entity that could result from data breaches 12 of any system operated by the reporting entity. 13 (c) CONSIDERATIONS.—In designing, establishing, 14 and maintaining the higher education data system, the 15 Secretary, acting through the Commissioner, shall use the 16 best available cybersecurity and privacy-enhancing tech- 17 nologies to protect the data collected under such system 18 and the privacy of the underlying individuals. In designing 19 the data system, the Commissioner— 20 (1) shall use secure multiparty computation 21 technologies; or 22 (2) may utilize technology other than secure 23 multiparty computation technologies if the other 24 technology— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1565 IH (A) fully complies with subparagraphs (A) 1 through (C) of subsection (b)(1); and 2 (B) delivers greater student privacy and 3 security than secure multiparty computation. 4 (d) RULES AND GUIDANCE.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—By not later than 1 year 6 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 7 retary, acting through the Commissioner, shall issue 8 rules regarding how reporting entities, and other en- 9 tities performing the reporting duties in accordance 10 with section 4(a)(2)(B), shall comply with the re- 11 quirements established under this Act and the 12 amendments made to the Higher Education Act of 13 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) by this Act. Such 14 rules shall— 15 (A) establish common definitions for re- 16 porting entities to follow in submitting the data 17 components required under section 4; and 18 (B) establish the collection and submission 19 requirements for the higher education data sys- 20 tem. 21 (2) PROTECTION OF DATA.—The Secretary 22 shall promulgate and periodically review rules or 23 guidance relating to security under this Act, which 24 shall govern the access, use, and disclosure of data 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1565 IH collected in connection with the activities authorized 1 in this Act. The rules or guidance described in this 2 paragraph shall— 3 (A) be consistent with the need to protect 4 data from unauthorized access, use, and disclo- 5 sure; and 6 (B) include— 7 (i) an audit capability and require- 8 ments for routine audits; 9 (ii) access controls; and 10 (iii) requirements to ensure sufficient 11 data security, quality, validity, and reli- 12 ability. 13 (3) REVIEW.—Every 5 years, the Secretary 14 shall review, and update as appropriate, the rules 15 and guidance issued under paragraphs (1) and (2). 16 (e) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall provide a clear, 17 prominent, comprehensible, and non-misleading notice of 18 the requirements of this section that shall— 19 (1) describe how the requirements of this sec- 20 tion are to be implemented, and how personal infor- 21 mation is to be collected, used, analyzed, or retained 22 pursuant to this Act; and 23 (2) be posted on the website of the Department 24 and made available to all reporting entities. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1565 IH (f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 1 tion shall be construed to place requirements or restric- 2 tions on activity not specifically related to establishing and 3 maintaining the higher education data system. 4 SEC. 4. REPORTING OF DATA COMPONENTS. 5 (a) DATA COMPONENTS REPORTED BY INSTITU- 6 TIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—By not later than October 1, 8 2021, each institution of higher education partici- 9 pating in any Federal student financial assistance 10 program shall report to the higher education data 11 system— 12 (A) not more than the minimum student- 13 level data necessary to enable the Commissioner 14 to calculate the metrics described in section 5 15 for each year; and 16 (B) not more than the minimum student- 17 level data necessary for the Commissioner to 18 calculate the student-focused IPEDS metrics 19 for each year. 20 (2) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In reporting the 21 data described in paragraph (1) to the higher edu- 22 cation data system, the institution may— 23 (A) directly report the data using the tech- 24 nology described in section 3(b)(1) and author- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1565 IH ized in a rule or guidance issued under section 1 3(d); or 2 (B) submit such data to a third-party ser- 3 vicer that has demonstrated the capacity to uti- 4 lize such technology and agreed to conduct the 5 reporting for the institution. 6 (b) DATA COMPONENTS REPORTED FROM THE SO- 7 CIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION AND THE SECRETARY 8 OF THE TREASURY.—Beginning October 1, 2021, the 9 Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of the 10 Treasury shall report to the higher education data system 11 the earnings data components for individuals employed in 12 the United States, including the self-employed, inde- 13 pendent contractors, and members of the military, that— 14 (1) are available to the Commissioner of Social 15 Security or the Secretary, respectively; and 16 (2) are necessary, as determined by the Com- 17 missioner for Education Statistics, for the calcula- 18 tion of the outcome metrics described in section 5 19 for each year. 20 (c) MILITARY-RELATED DATA COMPONENTS RE- 21 PORTED FROM THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE AND THE 22 SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.—Beginning October 23 1, 2021, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 24 Veterans Affairs shall report to the higher education data 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 1565 IH system the data components relating to the recipients of 1 educational assistance benefits provided directly to service- 2 members and veterans under the laws administered by the 3 Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Secretary of Defense, 4 that— 5 (1) are available to each such Secretary; and 6 (2) are necessary, as determined by the Com- 7 missioner, for the calculation of the outcome metrics 8 described in section 5 for each year. 9 (d) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE ELIGIBILITY DATA 10 FROM THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION.—Beginning Oc- 11 tober 1, 2021, the Secretary shall provide to the higher 12 education data system the data components relating to in- 13 dividual eligibility for, and receipt of aid from, all Federal 14 student financial aid progr [Text truncated for display. 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