College Equity Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 943 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide capacity-building assistance to institutions of higher education to examine and address inequities in college student access and success, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 28, 2019 Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. JONES, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide capacity-building assistance to institutions of higher edu- cation to examine and address inequities in college stu- dent access and success, 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 ‘‘College Equity Act 4 of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 943 IS SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 It is the sense of Congress that institutions of higher 2 education should examine institutional policies related to 3 admissions, financial aid, remedial education, support 4 services, coursework, faculty, and staff that may have dif- 5 ferential impacts on historically underrepresented stu- 6 dents. 7 SEC. 3. EQUITY GRANTS. 8 Title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 9 U.S.C. 1133 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 10 the following: 11 ‘‘PART F—EQUITY GRANTS 12 ‘‘SEC. 791. EQUITY PLANNING GRANTS. 13 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 15 planning grants to institutions of higher education 16 to encourage institutions to conduct equity audits. 17 ‘‘(2) DURATION.—A grant award under this 18 section shall be 2 years in duration. 19 ‘‘(3) MINIMUM GRANT AWARD.—A grant award 20 under this section shall be in an amount that is not 21 less than $100,000. 22 ‘‘(b) APPLICATIONS.—An institution of higher edu- 23 cation that desires to receive a planning grant under this 24 section shall submit an application to the Secretary at 25 such time, in such form, and containing such information, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 943 IS as the Secretary may require, including not less than the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(1) A narrative statement with sufficient detail 3 regarding how the institution intends to conduct the 4 equity audit and that provides examples of certain 5 policies, practices, and trends the institution intends 6 to examine. 7 ‘‘(2) A description of all relevant offices and 8 staff who will be involved in implementing the equity 9 audit. 10 ‘‘(3) A description of what specific data and 11 outcome measures the institution will examine and 12 for which student populations. 13 ‘‘(c) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—An institution of high- 14 er education that receives a planning grant under this sec- 15 tion to conduct an equity audit shall undertake a thorough 16 internal review of the institution’s policies, practices, and 17 resources to identify areas that might produce gaps in out- 18 comes by gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, income, 19 criminal justice background, military service history, or 20 for first-generation students, students with disabilities, 21 student parents, and transfer students. The equity audit 22 shall examine, with respect to the institution of higher 23 education, the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 943 IS ‘‘(1) Admissions policies, including the demo- 1 graphics of the State or region where the institution 2 is located, the demographics of communities where 3 the institution recruits, the makeup of students ad- 4 mitted through early admissions, early decision, 5 demonstrated interest, athletic preference admis- 6 sions, and legacy admissions, and the treatment and 7 admission of transfer students and credit transfer 8 policies. 9 ‘‘(2) Outreach, communication, and other inter- 10 actions with students who accept admission to the 11 institution to ensure they officially enroll when the 12 school term begins. 13 ‘‘(3) The financial aid awarding policies and 14 processes, including presentation of offer letters to 15 students, handling student accounts if funds are de- 16 layed due to verification, and institutional grant aid 17 policies, including the distribution of need-based and 18 non-need-based grants, which students receive insti- 19 tutional support and which students lose institu- 20 tional support and when that occurs. 21 ‘‘(4) Access to, and participation in, pre-college 22 and first-year experience offerings, such as orienta- 23 tion and bridge programs. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 943 IS ‘‘(5) Educational supports, such as remedial 1 placement and success, academic resource center 2 usage, advisor to student ratios, and how students 3 are differentially affected by satisfactory academic 4 progress policies. 5 ‘‘(6) Student support services, including demo- 6 graphics of staff and students served by academic or 7 career advising, child care centers, mentoring pro- 8 grams, and mental health and counseling services. 9 ‘‘(7) Access to, and participation in, small aca- 10 demic programs, STEM programs, study abroad, 11 and undergraduate research opportunities. 12 ‘‘(8) Diversity among administrators, advisers, 13 faculty overall, adjunct faculty, and teachers of core 14 and introductory-level courses, and the demographics 15 of faculty teaching historically underrepresented stu- 16 dents. 17 ‘‘(9) Physical accessibility on the grounds of the 18 institution and programmatic accessibility of campus 19 services, activities, and programs. 20 ‘‘(10) Demographics of students hired by em- 21 ployers who recruit on campus or that the institu- 22 tion has partnerships with in work-based programs. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 943 IS ‘‘(11) Any other policy, practice, or trend the 1 institution deems relevant to identify areas that 2 might produce gaps in access or outcomes. 3 ‘‘(d) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—An institution of 4 higher education that receives a grant under this section 5 shall submit a report to the Secretary detailing findings 6 of the equity audit not later than 90 days after the date 7 that the grant period ends. 8 ‘‘SEC. 792. EQUITY IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS. 9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 10 ‘‘(1) EDUCATIONAL AND RELATED EXPENDI- 11 TURES.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘educational 13 and related expenditures’ means, with respect 14 to an institution of higher education for an aca- 15 demic year, the total amount that is equal to 16 the sum of— 17 ‘‘(i) the amount expended by the insti- 18 tution of higher education in the academic 19 year for instruction and student services; 20 and 21 ‘‘(ii) the amount determined under 22 subparagraph (B) with respect to the insti- 23 tution of higher education for the academic 24 year. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 943 IS ‘‘(B) EDUCATION SHARE.—With respect to 1 an institution of higher education for an aca- 2 demic year, the amount determined under this 3 subparagraph is equal to the product of— 4 ‘‘(i) the percentage that is equal to— 5 ‘‘(I) the amount expended by the 6 institution of higher education in the 7 academic year for instruction and stu- 8 dent services; divided by 9 ‘‘(II) the amount expended by 10 the institution of higher education in 11 the academic year for instruction, stu- 12 dent services, research, and public 13 service; and 14 ‘‘(ii) the amount expended by the in- 15 stitution of higher education in the aca- 16 demic year for instruction, student serv- 17 ices, and operation maintenance. 18 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en- 19 tity’ means an institution of higher education that 20 has received an equity planning grant under section 21 791. 22 ‘‘(3) FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT UNDER- 23 GRADUATE STUDENTS.—The term ‘full-time equiva- 24 lent undergraduate students’ means the sum of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 943 IS number of undergraduate students enrolled full time 1 at an institution of higher education, plus the full- 2 time equivalent of the number of undergraduate stu- 3 dents enrolled part time (determined on the basis of 4 the quotient of the sum of the credit hours of all 5 part-time students divided by 12) at such institu- 6 tion. 7 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANTS.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award, 9 on a competitive basis, implementation grants to en- 10 able eligible entities to develop and execute an im- 11 provement plan to address the findings of the equity 12 audit. 13 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF GRANT SIZE.—The 14 Secretary shall award implementation grants under 15 this section in an amount based on— 16 ‘‘(A) the eligible entity’s enrollment size; 17 and 18 ‘‘(B) the severity of equity audit findings, 19 including low overall performance outcomes or 20 large performance gaps between groups of stu- 21 dents. 22 ‘‘(3) DURATION.—A grant award under this 23 section shall be 5 years in duration. 24 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 943 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that de- 1 sires to receive an implementation grant under this 2 section shall submit an application to the Secretary 3 at such time, in such form, and containing such in- 4 formation, as the Secretary may require. 5 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 6 under paragraph (1) shall include the following: 7 ‘‘(A) Demographic information and data 8 about the eligible entity, including a description 9 of the entity’s mission, history, enrollment size, 10 the student population it serves, and edu- 11 cational and related expenditures. 12 ‘‘(B) A description of equity audit find- 13 ings, including the gaps in outcomes identified 14 and for which group of students. 15 ‘‘(C) An improvement plan that includes a 16 description of the specific activities the eligible 17 entity will carry out with the funds made avail- 18 able by such grant to address the specific gaps 19 or problems identified by the equity audit. 20 ‘‘(D) A description of how the eligible enti- 21 ty will annually monitor and assess its progress 22 in closing achievement gaps. 23 ‘‘(E) A description of the level of institu- 24 tional commitment and which institutional lead- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 943 IS ers and offices will be involved in the planning, 1 improvement, and assessment process. 2 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—An application submitted 3 under paragraph (1) shall receive priority based on 4 the following: 5 ‘‘(A) The average educational and related 6 expenditures per full-time equivalent under- 7 graduate student of the eligible entity is low in 8 comparison with the average educational and 9 related expenditures per full-time equivalent un- 10 dergraduate student of institutions that offer 11 similar instruction. 12 ‘‘(B) The eligible entity demonstrates low 13 overall performance outcomes or large perform- 14 ance gaps between groups of students and sub- 15 mits additional written statements from select 16 executive-level institutional leaders, including 17 members of any governing board of trustees, to 18 demonstrate their interest and commitment to 19 executing the improvement plan. 20 ‘‘(C) The eligible entity has an enrollment 21 of students not less than 30 percent of whom 22 are eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant. 23 ‘‘(d) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 943 IS ‘‘(1) PROGRESS REPORTS.—An eligible entity 1 awarded an implementation grant under this section 2 shall submit a report detailing progress on its im- 3 provement plan to the Secretary not later than 3 4 years after being awarded the grant and again not 5 later than 5 years after being awarded the grant. 6 ‘‘(2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days 7 after the date a grant period awarded under this 8 section ends, the Secretary shall submit to Congress 9 a report detailing the grantee’s initial equity audit 10 findings and progress in addressing identified equity 11 gaps. 12 ‘‘SEC. 793. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 13 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 14 this part such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 15 2019 and each succeeding fiscal year.’’. 16 SEC. 4. ACCREDITATION. 17 Section 496(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 18 (20 U.S.C. 1099b(a)) is amended— 19 (1) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 20 the semicolon; 21 (2) in paragraph (8), by striking the period at 22 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 23 (3) by adding at the end the following: 24 ‘‘(9) such agency or association shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 943 IS ‘‘(A) assess findings from an equity audit 1 conducted under section 791 of any institution 2 of higher education the agency or association 3 accredits; and 4 ‘‘(B) provide ongoing feedback and tech- 5 nical assistance to help such institutions ad- 6 dress the findings from the equity audit and 7 share best practices from the equity audits.’’. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S943.IS S943 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS