Responsible Borrowing Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7872 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to authorize institutions of higher education to limit the amount of a Federal loan that an enrolled student may borrow. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 30, 2020 Mr. GROTHMAN 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 authorize institutions of higher education to limit the amount of a Federal loan that an enrolled student may borrow. 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 ‘‘Responsible Borrowing 4 Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. INSTITUTIONAL DETERMINED LIMITS. 6 Section 455(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 7 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(a)) is amended by adding at the end 8 the following new paragraph: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7872.IH H7872 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7872 IH ‘‘(4) INSTITUTIONAL DETERMINED LIMITS.— 1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 2 other provision of this Act, an institution of 3 higher education (at the discretion of a finan- 4 cial aid administrator at the institution) may 5 prorate or limit the amount of a loan any stu- 6 dent enrolled in a program of study at that in- 7 stitution may borrow under this part for an 8 academic year— 9 ‘‘(i) if the institution can reasonably 10 demonstrate that student debt levels are or 11 would be excessive for such program by 12 using the most recently available data for 13 the average starting salary in the region in 14 which the institution is located for typical 15 occupations pursued by graduates of such 16 program from the Bureau of Labor Statis- 17 tics, the applicable State agency, or the in- 18 stitution; 19 ‘‘(ii) in a case in which the student is 20 enrolled on a less than full-time basis or 21 the student is enrolled for less than the pe- 22 riod of enrollment to which the annual loan 23 limit applies under this part, based on the 24 student’s enrollment status; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7872.IH H7872 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7872 IH ‘‘(iii) based on the credential level 1 (such as a degree, certificate, or other rec- 2 ognized educational credential) that the 3 student would attain upon completion of 4 such program; or 5 ‘‘(iv) based on the year of the pro- 6 gram for which the student is seeking such 7 loan. 8 ‘‘(B) INCREASES FOR INDIVIDUAL STU- 9 DENTS.—Upon the request of a student whose 10 loan amount for an academic year has been 11 prorated or limited under subparagraph (A), an 12 eligible institution (at the discretion of the fi- 13 nancial aid administrator at the institution) 14 may increase such loan amount to an amount 15 not exceeding the annual loan amount applica- 16 ble to such student under this part for such 17 academic year if such student demonstrates 18 special circumstances or exceptional need. 19 ‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 20 in this paragraph shall be construed to author- 21 ize a proration or limiting of loan amounts by 22 an institution of higher education because of a 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7872.IH H7872 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7872 IH student’s race, color, religion, sex, marital sta- 1 tus, age, disability, or national origin.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 Aug 18, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7872.IH H7872 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS