Degrees Not Debt Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2471 To give middle-class families access to the maximum Federal Pell Grant, to increase college transparency, and State maintenance of efforts, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 Mr. HEINRICH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To give middle-class families access to the maximum Federal Pell Grant, to increase college transparency, and State maintenance of efforts, 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 ‘‘Degrees Not Debt Act 4 of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. INCREASE IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF A FED- 6 ERAL PELL GRANT. 7 Section 401(b)(7)(C) of the Higher Education Act of 8 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a(b)(7)(C)) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2471 IS (1) in clause (i)(I), by striking ‘‘clause (iv)(II)’’ 1 and inserting ‘‘clause (v)(II)’’; 2 (2) in clause (ii)(I), by striking ‘‘clause (iv)(II)’’ 3 and inserting ‘‘clause (v)(II)’’; 4 (3) by redesignating clauses (iii) and (iv) as 5 clauses (iv) and (v), respectively; 6 (4) by inserting after clause (ii) the following: 7 ‘‘(iii) AWARD YEAR 2019–2020.—For 8 award year 2019–2020, the amount deter- 9 mined under this subparagraph for pur- 10 poses of subparagraph (B)(iii) shall be 11 equal to— 12 ‘‘(I) $10,000; reduced by 13 ‘‘(II) the maximum Federal Pell 14 Grant for which a student would be 15 eligible using the criteria provided 16 under section 479; and 17 ‘‘(III) rounded to the nearest 18 $5.’’; and 19 (5) by striking clause (iv), as redesignated by 20 paragraph (3), and inserting the following: 21 ‘‘(iv) SUBSEQUENT AWARD YEARS.— 22 For award year 2020–2021 and each sub- 23 sequent award year, the amount deter- 24 mined under this subparagraph for pur- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2471 IS poses of subparagraph (B)(iii) shall be 1 equal to— 2 ‘‘(I) the amount determined 3 under this subparagraph for the pre- 4 ceding award year; increased by 5 ‘‘(II) a percentage equal to the 6 annual adjustment percentage for the 7 award year for which the amount 8 under this subparagraph is being de- 9 termined; and 10 ‘‘(III) rounded to the nearest 11 $5.’’. 12 SEC. 3. INCREASE FAMILY INCOME THRESHOLD FOR DE- 13 TERMINATION OF EXPECTED FAMILY CON- 14 TRIBUTION EQUAL TO ZERO. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 479 of the Higher Edu- 16 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087ss) is amended to read 17 as follows: 18 ‘‘SEC. 479. SIMPLIFIED APPLICATION. 19 ‘‘(a) SIMPLIFIED APPLICATION SECTION.— 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop 21 and use an easily identifiable simplified application 22 section as part of the common financial reporting 23 form prescribed under section 483(a) for families de- 24 scribed in subsection (b). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2471 IS ‘‘(2) REDUCED DATA REQUIREMENTS.—The 1 simplified application form shall in the case of a 2 family meeting the requirements of subsection (b), 3 permit such family to be treated as having an ex- 4 pected family contribution equal to zero for purposes 5 of establishing such eligibility and to submit only the 6 data elements required to make a determination 7 under subsection (b). 8 ‘‘(b) ZERO EXPECTED FAMILY CONTRIBUTION.— 9 The Secretary shall consider an applicant to have an ex- 10 pected family contribution equal to zero if— 11 ‘‘(1) in the case of a dependent student, the 12 sum of the adjusted gross income of the student’s 13 parents is less than or equal to 250 percent of the 14 poverty line (as defined by the Office of Manage- 15 ment and Budget, and revised annually in accord- 16 ance with section 673(2) of the Community Services 17 Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) applicable to 18 a family of the size involved; 19 ‘‘(2) in the case of an independent student with 20 dependents other than a spouse, the sum of the ad- 21 justed gross income of the student and the student’s 22 spouse (if appropriate) is less than or equal to 250 23 percent of the poverty line (as defined by the Office 24 of Management and Budget, and revised annually in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2471 IS accordance with section 673(2) of the Community 1 Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) ap- 2 plicable to a family of the size involved; or 3 ‘‘(3) in the case of an independent student 4 without dependents other than a spouse, the sum of 5 the adjusted gross income of the student and the 6 student’s spouse (if appropriate) is less than or 7 equal to 250 percent of the poverty line (as defined 8 by the Office of Management and Budget, and re- 9 vised annually in accordance with section 673(2) of 10 the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 11 9902(2))) applicable to a family of the size involved. 12 ‘‘(c) ADJUSTMENTS.—An individual is not required 13 to qualify or file for the earned income credit in order to 14 be eligible under this subsection. The Secretary shall an- 15 nually adjust the income level necessary to qualify an ap- 16 plicant for the zero expected family contribution. The in- 17 come level shall be adjusted according to increases in the 18 Consumer Price Index, as defined in section 478(f).’’. 19 (b) ADJUSTMENTS IN INCOME PROTECTION ALLOW- 20 ANCES.—For each academic year, the Secretary of Edu- 21 cation shall continue to publish in the Federal Register 22 a revised table of income protection allowances pursuant 23 to section 478(b)(1)(A) of the Higher Education Act of 24 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087rr(b)(1)(A)). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2471 IS SEC. 4. STATE RESPONSIBILITY. 1 (a) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT REQUIREMENTS.— 2 Section 401 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 3 U.S.C. 1070a) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘(k) INSTITUTIONAL INELIGIBILITY BASED ON FAIL- 6 URE OF STATE TO MAINTAIN HIGHER EDUCATION AP- 7 PROPRIATIONS LEVEL.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State that receives 9 funds under this Act shall maintain expenditures 10 and State financial aid for institutions of higher 11 education in the State, with respect to a fiscal year, 12 at an amount that is equal to or more than the aver- 13 age amount of State expenditures and State finan- 14 cial aid for institutions of higher education in the 15 State for the 10 fiscal years preceding such fiscal 16 year. 17 ‘‘(2) CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE TO MAINTAIN 18 EFFORT.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 19 law and beginning 5 years after the date of enact- 20 ment of the Degrees Not Debt Act of 2019, the Sec- 21 retary shall not make a payment under this subpart 22 to an institution of higher education for a fiscal year 23 for the purpose of making a Federal Pell Grant to 24 eligible students in attendance at such institution 25 and any such student shall not be eligible to receive 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2471 IS a Federal Pell Grant for attendance at such institu- 1 tion for the fiscal year, if the institution— 2 ‘‘(A) is an institution of higher education, 3 as defined in section 102; and 4 ‘‘(B) is located in a State that has not 5 maintained expenditures and State financial aid 6 for institutions of higher education in the State, 7 with respect to the fiscal year, at an amount 8 that is equal to or more than the average 9 amount of State expenditures and State finan- 10 cial aid for institutions of higher education in 11 the State for the 5 fiscal years preceding such 12 fiscal year. 13 ‘‘(3) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive the 14 requirement of paragraph (1) for a State, for one 15 fiscal year at a time, and the provisions of para- 16 graph (2) shall have no effect for such fiscal year if 17 the Secretary determines that granting a waiver 18 would be equitable due to exceptional or uncontrol- 19 lable circumstances such as a natural disaster or a 20 precipitous and unforeseen decline in the financial 21 resources of the State.’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2471 IS SEC. 5. COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY RESPONSIBILITY. 1 (a) PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENTS.—Sec- 2 tion 487 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 3 1094) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 5 following: 6 ‘‘(30) The institution will put a prominent link 7 on the homepage of the institution’s primary website 8 that goes directly to a report of a standard set of 9 key performance indicators with respect to the insti- 10 tution, as described in subsection (k).’’; and 11 (2) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(k) PERFORMANCE INDICATORS.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The key performance indi- 14 cators under this subsection are the following: 15 ‘‘(A)(i) Graduation rates— 16 ‘‘(I) at 100 percent of the normal 17 time for graduation; 18 ‘‘(II) at 150 percent of the normal 19 time for graduation; 20 ‘‘(III) at 200 percent of the normal 21 time for graduation; and 22 ‘‘(IV) each of which is disaggregated 23 by age (25 years old and younger, and 24 older than 25 years old), income, race and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2471 IS ethnicity, and first-generation college sta- 1 tus. 2 ‘‘(ii) Transfer out rates. Each such rate 3 shall be disaggregated by age (25 years old and 4 younger, and older than 25 years old), income, 5 race and ethnicity, and first-generation college 6 status. 7 ‘‘(iii) Withdrawal rates, including rates of 8 students who withdraw from a certificate pro- 9 gram to seek employment in a related field of 10 study. 11 ‘‘(B) Employment outcomes, including the 12 following: 13 ‘‘(i) The average salary of a graduate 14 3 years after graduation. 15 ‘‘(ii) The percentage of graduates 16 who, 180 days after graduation— 17 ‘‘(I) are employed full time; 18 ‘‘(II) are employed part-time; 19 ‘‘(III) are employed in the grad- 20 uate’s field of study or certificate; and 21 ‘‘(IV) make more than $25,000 a 22 year. 23 ‘‘(iii) The cohort repayment rate. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2471 IS ‘‘(C) Student satisfaction rate as indicated 1 by a survey of all students and recent alumni 2 with the following 2 questions using a 5-point 3 Likert scale: 4 ‘‘(i) How satisfied are you with your 5 educational experience at [name of institu- 6 tion]? 7 ‘‘(ii) If you were making the decision 8 today, how likely would you be to choose to 9 attend [name of institution] again? 10 ‘‘(D) The percentage of students who con- 11 tinue enrollment at the institution after the 12 first year of enrollment. 13 ‘‘(E) The average net price for the institu- 14 tion’s most recent cohort of graduates, 15 disaggregated by income quartile. 16 ‘‘(F) The average annual net price for full- 17 time attendance, broken out by tuition, fees, liv- 18 ing costs, and other (indirect) costs. 19 ‘‘(G) The median time to degree comple- 20 tion. 21 ‘‘(H) The percentage of enrolled students 22 with student loan debt. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2471 IS ‘‘(I) The average student loan debt at time 1 of graduation for the most recent cohort of 2 graduates who borrowed money. 3 ‘‘(J) The average student loan debt at time 4 of withdrawal for the most recent cohort of 5 non-graduates who borrowed money. 6 ‘‘(2) COHORT REPAYMENT RATE.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection, the 8 term ‘cohort repayment rate’ means, for any 9 fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2023— 10 ‘‘(i) in the case in which 30 or more 11 borrowers at the institution enter repay- 12 ment on Federal Direct Stafford Loans, 13 Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford 14 Loans, Federal Direct PLUS Loans, or 15 Federal Direct Consolidation Loans, re- 16 ceived for attendance at the institution, the 17 percentage of those borrowers who are not 18 in default and who make at least a one 19 dollar reduction on their initial student 20 loan principal balance before the end of the 21 second fiscal year following the fiscal year 22 in which the borrowers entered repayment, 23 except as provided in subparagraph (B); 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 2471 IS ‘‘(ii) in the case in which less than 30 1 borrowers at the institution enter repay- 2 ment on Federal Direct Stafford Loans, 3 Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford 4 Loans, Federal Direct PLUS Loans, or 5 Federal Direct Consolidation Loans, re- 6 ceived for attendance at the institution, the 7 percentage of those borrowers plus all of 8 the borrowers at the institution who en- 9 tered repayment on such loans (or on the 10 portion of a loan made under section 428C 11 that is used to repay any such loans) in 12 the 3 fiscal years preceding the fiscal year 13 for which the determination is made, who 14 are not in default and who make at least 15 a one dollar reduction on their initial stu- 16 dent loan principal balance before the end 17 of the second fiscal year following the year 18 in which the borrowers entered repayment, 19 except as provided in subparagraph (B). 20 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The ‘cohort repayment 21 rate’ calculation under subparagraph (A) shall 22 not include in the calculation a borrower who 23 is— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:13 Sep 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2471.IS S2471 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 2471 IS ‘‘(i) in deferment on repayment of a 1 loan described in subparagraph (A) due to 2 study in an approved graduate fellowship 3 program or in an approved rehabilitation 4 train [Text truncated for display. 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