POST Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3179 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 JUNE 10, 2019 Mr. COHEN (for himself, Ms. JACKSON LEE, and Mr. CISNEROS) 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 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 ‘‘Protecting Our Stu- 4 dents and Taxpayers Act of 2019’’ or ‘‘POST Act of 5 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. 85/15 RULE. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 102(b) of the Higher 8 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002(b)) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3179.IH H3179 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3179 IH (1) in paragraph (1)— 1 (A) in subparagraph (D), by striking 2 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 3 (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking the 4 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(F) meets the requirements of paragraph 7 (2).’’; 8 (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para- 9 graph (3); and 10 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol- 11 lowing: 12 ‘‘(2) REVENUE SOURCES.— 13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In order to qualify as 14 a proprietary institution of higher education 15 under this subsection, an institution shall derive 16 not less than 15 percent of the institution’s rev- 17 enues from sources other than Federal funds, 18 as calculated in accordance with subparagraphs 19 (B) and (C). 20 ‘‘(B) FEDERAL FUNDS.—In this para- 21 graph, the term ‘Federal funds’ means any 22 Federal financial assistance provided, under 23 this Act or any other Federal law, through a 24 grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insur- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3179.IH H3179 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3179 IH ance, or other means to a proprietary institu- 1 tion, including Federal financial assistance that 2 is disbursed or delivered to an institution or on 3 behalf of a student or to a student to be used 4 to attend the institution, except that such term 5 shall not include any monthly housing stipend 6 provided under the Post-9/11 Veterans Edu- 7 cational Assistance Program under chapter 33 8 of title 38, United States Code. 9 ‘‘(C) IMPLEMENTATION OF NON-FEDERAL 10 REVENUE REQUIREMENT.—In making calcula- 11 tions under subparagraph (A), an institution of 12 higher education shall— 13 ‘‘(i) use the cash basis of accounting; 14 ‘‘(ii) consider as revenue only those 15 funds generated by the institution from— 16 ‘‘(I) tuition, fees, and other insti- 17 tutional charges for students enrolled 18 in programs eligible for assistance 19 under title IV; 20 ‘‘(II) activities conducted by the 21 institution that are necessary for the 22 education and training of the institu- 23 tion’s students, if such activities are— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3179.IH H3179 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3179 IH ‘‘(aa) conducted on campus 1 or at a facility under the control 2 of the institution; 3 ‘‘(bb) performed under the 4 supervision of a member of the 5 institution’s faculty; and 6 ‘‘(cc) required to be per- 7 formed by all students in a spe- 8 cific educational program at the 9 institution; and 10 ‘‘(III) a contractual arrangement 11 with a Federal agency for the purpose 12 of providing job training to low-in- 13 come individuals who are in need of 14 such training; 15 ‘‘(iii) presume that any Federal funds 16 that are disbursed or delivered to an insti- 17 tution on behalf of a student or directly to 18 a student will be used to pay the student’s 19 tuition, fees, or other institutional charges, 20 regardless of whether the institution cred- 21 its such funds to the student’s account or 22 pays such funds directly to the student, ex- 23 cept to the extent that the student’s tui- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3179.IH H3179 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3179 IH tion, fees, or other institutional charges are 1 satisfied by— 2 ‘‘(I) grant funds provided by an 3 outside source that— 4 ‘‘(aa) has no affiliation with 5 the institution; and 6 ‘‘(bb) shares no employees 7 with the institution; and 8 ‘‘(II) institutional scholarships 9 described in clause (v); 10 ‘‘(iv) include no loans made by an in- 11 stitution of higher education as revenue to 12 the school, except for payments made by 13 students on such loans; 14 ‘‘(v) include a scholarship provided by 15 the institution— 16 ‘‘(I) only if the scholarship is in 17 the form of monetary aid based upon 18 the academic achievements or finan- 19 cial need of students, disbursed to 20 qualified student recipients during 21 each fiscal year from an established 22 restricted account; and 23 ‘‘(II) only to the extent that 24 funds in that account represent des- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3179.IH H3179 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3179 IH ignated funds, or income earned on 1 such funds, from an outside source 2 that— 3 ‘‘(aa) has no affiliation with 4 the institution; and 5 ‘‘(bb) shares no employees 6 with the institution; and 7 ‘‘(vi) exclude from revenues— 8 ‘‘(I) the amount of funds the in- 9 stitution received under part C of title 10 IV, unless the institution used those 11 funds to pay a student’s institutional 12 charges; 13 ‘‘(II) the amount of funds the in- 14 stitution received under subpart 4 of 15 part A of title IV; 16 ‘‘(III) the amount of funds pro- 17 vided by the institution as matching 18 funds for any Federal program; 19 ‘‘(IV) the amount of Federal 20 funds provided to the institution to 21 pay institutional charges for a student 22 that were refunded or returned; and 23 ‘‘(V) the amount charged for 24 books, supplies, and equipment, unless 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3179.IH H3179 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3179 IH the institution includes that amount 1 as tuition, fees, or other institutional 2 charges. 3 ‘‘(D) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 4 than July 1, 2020, and by July 1 of each suc- 5 ceeding year, the Secretary shall submit to the 6 authorizing committees a report that contains, 7 for each proprietary institution of higher edu- 8 cation that receives assistance under title IV 9 and as provided in the audited financial state- 10 ments submitted to the Secretary by each insti- 11 tution pursuant to the requirements of section 12 487(c)— 13 ‘‘(i) the amount and percentage of 14 such institution’s revenues received from 15 Federal funds; and 16 ‘‘(ii) the amount and percentage of 17 such institution’s revenues received from 18 other sources.’’. 19 (b) REPEAL OF EXISTING REQUIREMENTS.—Section 20 487 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 21 1094) is amended— 22 (1) in subsection (a)— 23 (A) by striking paragraph (24); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3179.IH H3179 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 3179 IH (B) by redesignating paragraphs (25) 1 through (29) as paragraphs (24) through (28), 2 respectively; 3 (C) in paragraph (24)(A)(ii) (as redesig- 4 nated by subparagraph (B)), by striking ‘‘sub- 5 section (e)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (d)’’; and 6 (D) in paragraph (26) (as redesignated by 7 subparagraph (B)), by striking ‘‘subsection (h)’’ 8 and inserting ‘‘subsection (g)’’; 9 (2) by striking subsection (d); 10 (3) by redesignating subsections (e) through (j) 11 as subsections (d) through (i), respectively; 12 (4) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) of 13 subsection (d) (as redesignated by paragraph (3)), 14 by striking ‘‘(a)(25)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a)(24)’’; 15 (5) in subsection (f)(1) (as redesignated by 16 paragraph (3)), by striking ‘‘subsection (e)(2)’’ and 17 inserting ‘‘subsection (d)(2)’’; and 18 (6) in subsection (g)(1) (as redesignated by 19 paragraph (3)), by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(27)’’ in 20 the matter preceding subparagraph (A) and insert- 21 ing ‘‘subsection (a)(26)’’. 22 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Higher Edu- 23 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) is amended— 24 (1) in section 152 (20 U.S.C. 1019a)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3179.IH H3179 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 3179 IH (A) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by striking 1 ‘‘subsections (a)(27) and (h) of section 487’’ 2 and inserting ‘‘subsections (a)(26) and (g) of 3 section 487’’; and 4 (B) in subsection (b)(1)(B)(i)(I), by strik- 5 ing ‘‘section 487(e)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 6 487(d)’’; 7 (2) in section 153(c)(3) (20 U.S.C. 8 1019b(c)(3)), by striking ‘‘section 487(a)(25)’’ each 9 place the term appears and inserting ‘‘section 10 487(a)(24)’’; 11 (3) in section 496(c)(3)(A) (20 U.S.C. 12 1099b(c)(3)(A)), by striking ‘‘section 487(f)’’ and 13 inserting ‘‘section 487(e)’’; and 14 (4) in section 498(k)(1) (20 U.S.C. 15 1099c(k)(1)), by striking ‘‘section 487(f)’’ and in- 16 serting ‘‘section 487(e)’’. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3179.IH H3179 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS