Higher Education Opportunity Act
| Date | Chamber | What was voted on | Result | Yes–No | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 2008 | House · vote #544 | On Agreeing to the Conference Report | Passed | 380–49 | See who voted → |
| Feb 7, 2008 | House · vote #40 | On Passage | Passed | 354–58 | See who voted → |
| Feb 7, 2008 | House · vote #39 | On Motion to Recommit with Instructions | Failed | 194–216 | See who voted → |
College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2008 - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to revise and reauthorize HEA programs.
Title I: Title I Amendments - (Sec. 101) Revises the general definition of an institution of higher education (IHE) to include schools that: (1) admit students whose secondary education was conducted in a home school setting; (2) award degrees (not necessarily bachelor's degrees) that are acceptable for admission to a graduate or professional degree program; and (3) enroll students who will be dually or concurrently enrolled in a secondary school.
Revises the definition of an IHE for purposes of title IV student assistance programs.
Requires graduate medical schools located outside the country, that qualified as IHEs owing to their having a state-approved clinical training program as of January 1, 1992, to have continuously operated a clinical training program in at least one state that is approved by such state. Allows foreign graduate medical schools that have a state-approved clinical training program as of January 1, 2008, to qualify as IHEs under title IV if they certify only unsubsidized loans under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program and agree to reimburse the Secretary of Education (Secretary) for the cost of any defaulted loan in their cohort default rate during the previous fiscal year.
Allows foreign nursing schools to be eligible for title IV aid if they: (1) have agreements with hospitals or nursing programs located in this country at which students are to complete their training; (2) certify only unsubsidized FFEL loans; and (3) agree to reimburse the Secretary for the cost of any student loan defaults if their cohort default rate exceeds 5%.
Includes as proprietary IHEs and as postsecondary vocational institutions any schools that enroll students who will be dually or concurrently enrolled in a secondary school.
(Sec. 102) Adds definitions of critical foreign language, disconnected students, distance education, high-need school, limited English proficient (LEP), universal design, and universal design for learning.
(Sec. 104) Reconstitutes the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity in the Department of Education (Department) to advise the Secretary on accreditation matters until October 2012.
(Sec. 105) Requires IHEs' biennial reviews of their alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs to include a determination as to: (1) the number of drug- and alcohol-related incidents and fatalities occurring on their property or as part of their activities that are reported to them; and (2) the number and type of sanctions the IHEs impose on students or employees as a result of such incidents or fatalities.
Repeals the National Recognition Awards for outstanding IHE alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs.
Reauthorizes appropriations for alcohol and drug abuse prevention grants for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 106) Extends an authorization of appropriations to continue coverage of prior rights and obligations for servicing outstanding bonds from certain earlier programs under title VII of the HEA before it was amended by the Higher Education Amendments of 1992 and the Higher Education Amendments of 1998.
(Sec. 107) Directs the Secretary to display a link to the Department's student financial aid website in a prominent place on the homepage of the Department's website. Allows the Secretary to use administrative funds available for the Department's operations and expenses to promote the availability of the financial aid website.
Requires the Secretary to provide parents and students with easy access via the federal student financial aid website to detailed information concerning student financial aid options provided by other federal departments and agencies.
(Sec. 108) Requires states to maintain or increase their funding of non-capital and indirect research and development costs at public IHEs and their funding of financial aid at private IHEs or become ineligible for this Act's new grants to expand college access and increase college persistence under the Grants for Access and Persistence program which replaces the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership program. Allows the Secretary to waive such requirement for states facing exceptional circumstances.
Authorizes the Secretary to identify and disseminate IHE cost containment strategies, recognize IHEs that are containing costs effectively, and work with other IHEs to implement such strategies.
(Sec. 109) Directs the Secretary to place lists on the College Navigator website each year, by specified categories of IHEs, of the top 5% of IHEs with the highest tuition and fees, the lowest tuition and fees, and the largest percentage increase in tuition and fees over the most recent three-year period.
Requires each IHE on the latter list to: (1) issue a report to the Secretary explaining such increase; and (2) establish a quality-efficiency task force to review school operations, set annual cost reduction benchmarks, and report to the IHE and the Secretary on its findings. Requires schools that fail to meet such benchmarks to give the Secretary a detailed explanation for such failure which, together with the earlier explanation and the task force report, shall be summarized in a report provided to Congress and on the College Navigator website.
Requires the Secretary to annually report on the College Navigator website: (1) comparisons of changes in each state's appropriations per full-time equivalent student in public IHEs with changes in the tuition and fees such IHEs have charged over the past five years; and (2) the total amount of need- and merit-based aid provided by the state to full-time equivalent students enrolled in such schools.
Requires the Secretary to develop a net price calculator and, within three years of this Act's enactment, HEA-funded IHEs to adopt and make available for use on their websites such net price calculator to help students, families, and consumers determine the net price (tuition minus grants and discounts) of IHEs.
Requires the Commission of the Bureau of Labor Statistics to develop postsecondary education price indices that: (1) accurately reflect the annual change in tuition and fees for undergraduate students in specified categories of IHEs; and (2) are to be made available on the College Navigator website.
Requires the Secretary to post on the College Navigator website additional basic information about each IHE's students, teachers, assistance, costs, and safety and make such information available to IHEs, students, families, and other consumers.
Directs the Commissioner of Education Statistics to continue redesigning the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System to include such additional data and improve the usefulness and timeliness of data collected by such System.
Directs the Secretary to conduct a survey of title IV student aid recipients on a state-by-state basis at least once every four years.
Expresses the sense of Congress that IHEs should participate in efforts to provide concise, easily accessible, on-line consumer information to prospective students and their families that is consistent across IHEs while permitting opportunities for more in-depth exploration of specific IHEs.
(Sec. 110) Requires publishers informing teachers or those selecting course materials at IHEs about available textbooks or supplements to include written information concerning: (1) the price the publisher would charge the bookstore associated with such institution for such items; (2) the copyright dates of all previous editions of such textbooks in the preceding 10 years; (3) substantial revisions to such items; and (4) whether such items are available in other formats, including paperback and unbound, and the price the publisher would charge the bookstore for items in those formats.
Requires a publisher that sells a textbook and any accompanying supplement as a single bundled item also to sell them as separately priced and unbundled items.
Directs IHEs to include on printed or internet course schedules the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and retail price for each required or recommended textbook or supplement for listed courses. Requires an institution to: (1) use the author, title, publisher, and copyright date if the ISBN is unavailable; and (2) indicate that the required information has yet to be determined if its disclosure for a course is impractical.
Requires IHEs to provide college bookstores, upon their request, with: (1) their course schedules for the subsequent academic period; (2) the information this Act requires to be placed on each course schedule regarding each textbook or supplement required or recommended for each course; and (3) the number of students enrolled, and the maximum enrollment, in each course.
(Sec. 111) Prohibits the creation or maintenance of a federal database of personally identifiable student information. States that such prohibition does not apply to certain data systems in use prior to this Act's enactment, or state databases that track individuals over time.
(Sec. 112) Prohibits a state from charging more than the instate tuition for attending a public IHE in that state to: (1) members of the armed forces who are on active duty for more than 30 days and whose domicile or permanent duty station is in such state; or (2) such members' dependents.
Provides that, even if such members' permanent duty station is subsequently changed to a location outside the state, they or their dependents must continue to be charged no more than the instate tuition if they remain continuously enrolled at such IHE in the state.
(Sec. 113) Requires IHEs to report annually to the Secretary on their use of endowment funds to reduce the costs of their programs.
(Sec. 114) Establishes a State Higher Education Information System Pilot program under which the Secretary shall award competitive grants to up to five states, consortia of states, or consortia of IHEs to: (1) design, test, and implement state-level postsecondary student data systems that provide the maximum benefits to states, IHEs, and state policymakers; and (2) examine the costs and burdens involved in implementing such systems.
(Sec. 115) Creates a new part E (Lender and Institution Requirements Related to Educational Loans) under title I of the HEA.
Requires lenders of FFELs entering into preferred lender arrangements with IHEs to certify annually their compliance with the this Act's requirements.
Prohibits IHEs from allowing lenders to market private educational loans in a manner that implies their endorsement of such loans.
Directs the Secretary to report to Congress on the adequacy of educational loan information provided to borrowers and include a model disclosure form for lenders that have preferred lender arrangements with IHEs to use in providing annual loan information to the Secretary and such IHEs. Requires such lenders to disclose loan terms and any philanthropic contributions made to such IHEs.
Requires IHEs to provide the Secretary, prospective borrowers, and the public with the disclosure form information on preferred lenders and a detailed explanation as to why their loans are beneficial to borrowers in time for borrowers to take such information into account before applying for a loan.
Requires IHEs to disclose on their websites and in their informational materials: (1) that they cannot limit students to recommended lenders and must process loan documents from any eligible lender; (2) the model disclosure form information regarding preferred lenders; (3) the maximum federal student aid available; and (4) their cost of attendance.
Requires IHEs that provide prospective borrowers with private educational loan information to inform students and parents of: (1) their eligibility for title IV assistance; and (2) compare and distinguish private loans from title IV loans.
Requires IHEs to develop, publicize, and enforce codes of conduct for their officers, employees, and agents that prohibit conflicts of interest with respect to educational loans.
Prohibits IHE financial aid personnel from: (1) accepting gifts from lenders, guarantors, or servicers of educational loans; (2) accepting any compensation for providing services to or for lenders; and (3) participating on any lender or lender affiliate advisory councils. Requires the Department's Inspector General to investigate any reported gift ban violation.
Bars IHEs from: (1) entering into revenue sharing agreements with lenders; (2) requesting or accepting lender assistance with call center or financial aid office staffing, except in certain emergencies; (3) requesting or accepting lenders offers of funds for private student loans in exchange for business concessions or status as preferred lenders of title IV loans. Prohibits lenders from making such offers.
Conditions the receipt of federal funds and assistance by schools and lenders on their compliance with part E. Establishes penalties for noncompliance that include: (1) banning lenders from participating in title IV programs; and (2) a $27,500 civil penalty for schools and lenders that participate and for those that do not participate in title IV programs.
Requires FFEL lenders and the Secretary, for loans under title IV's Direct Loan (DL) or Perkins Loan (PL) programs, to: (1) provide borrowers with information regarding loan terms, status, and repayment options before and during loan repayment; and (2) contact borrowers who have nonstandard repayment plans, every year after five years have passed since their selection of such plan, to ascertain if they are able to select shorter repayment plans that would reduce the total interest they pay.
Requires IHEs to provide counseling to FFEL, DL, and PL borrowers before they sign their first promissory note regarding the average indebtedness of borrowers at the school, sample monthly repayment amounts based on a range of student indebtedness levels, starting salaries for their graduates in different fields of study, repayment options, and the likely consequences of default. Requires the Secretary to provide information to IHEs to enable them to provide borrowers with such counseling and include such information on the Department's website.
(Sec. 116) Directs the Secretary to study the feasibility of developing a National Electronic Student Loan Marketplace that would provide for a registry of realtime information on federal and private student loans.
Title II: Title II Revision - (Sec. 201) Revises and reauthorizes part A (Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants for States and Partnerships) of title II of the HEA.
Eliminates the State grant and Teacher Recruitment grant programs.
Turns the Partnership grant program into the revised Teacher Quality Partnership grant program.
Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive five-year grants to partnerships of high-need local educational agencies (LEAs), high-need schools, and IHEs for use in carrying out a pre-baccalaureate teacher preparation program, a teaching residency program, a leadership development program, or a combination of two or more such programs.
Requires the pre-baccalaureate teacher preparation program to include: (1) educational reforms; (2) clinical experience and interaction; (3) induction programs for new teachers that provide them with mentoring and support for at least their first two years of teaching; (4) literacy training; and (5) teacher recruitment mechanisms.
Requires the teaching residency program to prepare teachers for success in the high-need schools in the partnership by engaging residents in rigorous graduate-level coursework to earn a master's degree while they undertake a guided teaching apprenticeship alongside a trained and experienced mentor teacher who may be relieved of teaching duties. Requires teacher residents to be: (1) recent graduates of a four-year IHE; or (2) mid-career professionals from outside the field of education who possess strong content knowledge or a record of professional accomplishment. Provides residents with a living stipend or salary during the one-year residency program in exchange for at least three years of service in a high-need field in a high-need school served by the high-need LEA.
Requires the leadership development program to include: (1) preparing students for careers as school administrators; (2) a preservice clinical education program; (3) an induction program for new administrators; and (4) administrator recruitment mechanisms. Includes in such program, in addition to students, mid-career professionals from outside the field of education who possess strong content knowledge or a record of professional accomplishment, and current teachers who aspire to be principals or principals who aspire to be superintendents.
Requires partnership grantees to provide an amount equal to the amount of the grant from nonfederal sources for program activities, unless the Secretary grants them a hardship waiver.
Adds programs that offer alternative routes to state certification and licensure to the teacher preparation programs that are the subject of annual reports which IHEs must provide to their states and the public, and states must provide to the Secretary and the public, concerning certain measures of program effectiveness, such as student success on certification or licensure assessments. Prohibits the Secretary from using such information to create a national list or ranking of states, institutions, or schools.
Requires IHEs that provide teacher training and enroll students who receive HEA assistance to set annual quantifiable goals for: (1) increasing the number of prospective teachers trained in teacher shortage areas; and (2) linking the training they provide more closely with the needs of schools and the instructional decisions new teachers face in the classroom. Directs such IHEs to report publicly on their performance toward such goals.
Authorizes appropriations for the Teacher Quality Partnership grant program for FY2009-FY2011.
Replaces the Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology program of part B of title II with the Preparing Teachers for Digital Age Learners program.
Authorizes the Secretary to award to consortia of IHEs, states or LEAs, and entities able to assist in the technology-related reform of teacher preparation programs: (1) partnership grants for developing long-term partnerships among consortium members that are focused on effective teaching with modern digital tools and content that connect preservice teacher preparation with high-need schools; or (2) transformative grants for transforming the way departments, schools, and colleges of education teach classroom technology integration to teacher candidates.
Limits the federal share of any project's cost to 75%.
Authorizes appropriations for the Preparing Teachers for Digital Age Learners program for FY2009-FY2011.
Creates a new Part C (Enhancing Teacher Education) to title II of the HEA.
Establishes a new Recruiting Teachers With Math, Science, or Language Majors program requiring the Secretary to award competitive grants to IHEs to improve the availability, recruitment, and retention of teachers from among students majoring in such subjects, special education, or those teaching English to LEP students. Gives grant priority to schools that focus on preparing and retaining teachers in subjects in which there is a shortage of highly qualified teachers, prepare students to teach in high-need schools, and plan to seek matching funds from other governmental and non-governmental sources.
Establishes a new Community Colleges as Partners in Teacher Education Grants program authorizing the Secretary to award competitive grants to partnerships among community colleges, four-year IHEs, and a state, LEA, or professional teacher organization for use in: (1) establishing or enhancing teacher education or postbaccalaureate certification programs at community colleges; and (2) developing and delivering professional development for teachers. Gives grant priority to partnerships that aim to increase the diversification of the teacher workforce or prepare teachers to teach high-demand subjects or in high-need schools.
Establishes an Honorable Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence program authorizing the Secretary to award grants to certain minority-serving IHEs, or partnerships between such IHEs and other IHEs, to establish centers of excellence for teacher education.
Requires the use of such grants to ensure that current and future teachers are highly qualified by: (1) reforming teacher preparation programs so that teachers are able to understand scientifically-based research and use advanced technology effectively in the classroom; (2) providing preservice clinical experience and mentoring to prospective teachers, and increased interaction between IHE faculty and new and experienced elementary and secondary school teachers and administrators; (3) implementing initiatives to promote the retention of highly qualified teachers and principals; (4) awarding need-based scholarships for students in teacher preparation programs; (5) disseminating information on effective teacher preparation practices; and (6) conducting certain other activities authorized under title II.
Authorizes the Secretary of to award a grant to Teach For America, Inc. to implement and expand its program of recruiting, selecting, training, and supporting new teachers who commit to teach for two years in underserved communities. Directs the Secretary to arrange a study, at least once every three years, examining the achievement levels of students taught by such teachers.
Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive grants to a state for the establishment of a State Early Childhood Education Professional Development and Career Task Force: (1) composed of state, higher education, and early childhood education representatives; and (2) tasked with developing a plan for a comprehensive statewide early childhood education professional development and career system that includes the provision of postsecondary educational assistance to individuals who agree to work in early childhood education programs.
Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive grants to partnerships of IHE teacher programs, IHE special education programs, and high-need LEAs to more effectively prepare general education teacher candidates to instruct disabled students in their classrooms. Requires such preparation to include extensive clinical experience, with mentoring and induction support throughout participants' first year of full-time teaching. Requires grantees to evaluate their programs and the Secretary to use such evaluations to report to Congress and the public on best practices for instructing disabled students in general education classrooms.
Authorizes appropriations for the Part C programs for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 202) Directs the Secretary to contract with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for a two-year study to develop suggested best practices in teacher preparation for schools of education.Title III: Title III Amendments - Revises and reauthorizes title III (Institutional Aid programs) of the HEA.
(Sec. 301) Expands the authorized uses of institutional aid to include educational or counseling services to improve the financial and economic literacy of students or their parents.
(Sec. 302) Establishes a formula grant program, including a minimum grant amount, for tribally controlled colleges and universities (replacing the current competitive grant program). Authorizes the use of grant funds for: (1) acquiring adjacent property on which to construct instructional facilities; (2) instruction in tribal governance or tribal public policy; and (3) developing and improving facilities for Internet and other distance education technologies.
Authorizes the Secretary to reserve 30% of the appropriations for such colleges and universities to award one-year grants for their construction, maintenance, and renovation needs.(Sec. 303) Establishes a new program awarding formula grants to Predominantly Black Institutions to: (1) enhance their capacity to serve more low- and middle-income Black American students; (2) expand higher education opportunities for students eligible for student assistance under title IV of the HEA by encouraging such students to prepare for college and persist in secondary and postsecondary education; and (3) strengthen their financial ability to serve the academic needs of such students.
Defines Predominantly Black Institutions as accredited institutions serving at least 1,000 undergraduate students at least: (1) 50% of whom are pursuing a bachelor's or associate's degree; (2) 40% of whom are Black Americans; and (3) 50% of whom are low-income or first-generation college students. Requires the spending per full-time undergraduate student of such institutions to be low in comparison to that of institutions offering similar instruction.
Allows grant recipients to use up to 20% of their grant on an endowment fund, provided they raise nonfederal matching funds at least equal to the amount of the grant used for such endowment. Allots funding among institutions on the basis of their share of Pell Grant recipients, graduates, and graduates pursuing a higher degree.
Establishes a minimum allotment for each institution which is to be ratably reduced if appropriations are insufficient to pay it.
(Sec. 304) Establishes a new competitive grant program for Asian American and Pacific Islander-serving institutions to enhance their capacity to serve Asian American and Pacific Islander students.
Defines Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions as accredited institutions that have a significant enrollment of financially needy students and an enrollment of undergraduate students that are at least 10% Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander students. Requires the spending per full-time undergraduate student of such institutions to be low in comparison to that of institutions offering similar instruction.
Gives grant priority to institutions that serve a significant percentage of low-income Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander students.
(Sec. 305) Establishes a new competitive grant program for Native American-serving, non-tribal institutions to enhance their capacity to serve Native Americans. Requires the undergraduate student enrollment of Native Americans at such institutions to be at least 10% of the total undergraduate enrollment.
(Sec. 306) Revises the grant program for historically Black colleges and universities to direct the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Secretary to consult with the Commissioner for Education Statistics in determining professional and academic areas in which blacks are underrepresented.
Authorizes the use of grant funds for: (1) the acquisition of real property for campus facilities; (2) education or financial services information designed to improve the financial literacy and economic literacy of students or their parents; and (3) technical assistance or services necessary for the implementation of approved projects or activities.
Conditions the eligibility of historically Black colleges and universities for grants on their furnishing the Secretary with certain data indicating that they have enrolled Pell grant recipients, graduated students in the previous academic year, and, where appropriate, sent some graduates on to graduate or professional school.
Adds to the list of eligible graduate and professional institutions. Increases the amount of appropriations reserved for grants to institutions on such list before such additions.
(Sec. 307) Increases the maximum and minimum Endowment Challenge grant available to certain minority-serving institutions.
(Sec. 308) Alters responsibilities of designated bonding authorities under the historically Black colleges and universities capital financing program, including by lowering the maximum issuance charge and interest rate they may charge, and requiring them to forbear or defer loan collection in certain situations.
Increases the principal amount of outstanding bonds for loans to historically Black colleges and universities which may be federally insured under such program.
Requires the Secretary to specify up to three designated bonding authorities and provide for the review of their authorizations at least every three years.
Alters the size and composition of the HBCU Capital Financing Advisory Board.
(Sec. 309) Establishes a new YES Partnerships grant program for partnerships of IHEs, high-need LEAs, and community organizations to encourage underrepresented minority students in kindergarten through grade 12 to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through outreach and hands-on, experiential-based learning projects.
Allows the Secretary to contract with a advertising firm to implement a campaign encouraging: (1) young Americans to enter STEM fields, particularly Latin-Americans, African-Americans, and women underrepresented in such fields; and (2) professionals in those fields to teach such subjects to elementary and secondary school students.
(Sec. 310) Allows the Secretary to provide technical assistance to institutions desiring a grant under title III.
(Sec. 311) Directs the Secretary to waive, for FY2009-FY2013, the application of specified title III requirements for IHEs affected by a Gulf of Mexico hurricane disaster that were receiving title III assistance at the time of such disaster.
(Sec. 312) Authorizes title III appropriations for FY2009-FY2013.
Sets a $200,000 minimum on title III grants.
Title IV: Title IV Amendments - Revises and reauthorizes title IV Student Assistance programs.
Part A: Part A Amendments - (Sec. 401) Increases the authorized annual maximum Pell Grant award to $9,000 through academic year 2013-2014.
Allows the awarding of an additional Pell Grant during a single award year to certain students who attend school year-round to accelerate their progress toward a degree or certificate.
Prohibits from receiving a Pell Grant any persons subject to involuntary civil commitment after incarceration for a forcible or non-forcible sexual offense.
Limits the period during which a student may receive Pell Grants to 18 semesters or 27 quarters. Provides that for students who are not enrolled full-time, only the fraction of time enrolled shall count toward such limits.
Eliminates the expected family contribution used in determining Pell Grant eligibility in the case of a student applicant whose parent or guardian was killed while performing military service in Iraq or Afghanistan after September 11, 2001.
Broadens the array of students eligible for Academic Competitiveness grants and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) grants to include: (1) part-time students; (2) non-citizens; (3) students enrolled in certificate-awarding programs; (4) first-year students who were previously enrolled in undergraduate education; and (5) students enrolled in IHEs that do not permit declaration of a major, but who are studying one of the requisite subjects or have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 in the relevant coursework.
(Sec. 402) Reauthorizes appropriations for TRIO programs (of grants and contracts designed to identify qualified individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds and help prepare them for a program of postsecondary education) for FY2009-FY2013.
Makes community-based organizations with experience in serving disadvantaged youth eligible for TRIO grants and contracts. Eliminates the requirement that there be exceptional circumstances before secondary schools are eligible recipients of such grants and contracts.
Requires TRIO grant applicants to ensure that foster care youth, including youth who leave foster care after reaching age 16, receive supportive services.
Allows homeless or unaccompanied youth to participate in TRIO programs.
Extends the duration of TRIO grants to five years. Sets the minimum grant at $200,000, except for staff training and development programs.
Directs the Secretary to establish outcome criteria for such programs.
Establishes an appeals process for TRIO applicants.
Prohibits veterans of the Armed Forces Reserves from being deemed ineligible to participate in TRIO because of age if they served on active duty for a period of more than 180 days or in support of a contingency operation on or after September 11, 2001.
Permits TRIO programs that are designed specially for LEP students, disconnected students, and groups of disadvantaged persons who have particular lower educational access or outcomes.
Requires the Secretary to discontinue the absolute priority for Upward Bound program participant selection and evaluation published by the Department in the Federal Register on September 22, 2006.
Includes Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the Postbaccalaureate Achievement program designed to provide disadvantaged college students with effective preparation for doctoral study.
(Sec. 403) Reauthorizes appropriations for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEARUP) for FY2009-FY2013.
Allows the Secretary to award seven-year GEARUP grants.
Requires grantees to provide: (1) students with the option of receiving services through their first year at an IHE, if the provision of such services was described in their grant application; and (2) services to students who have received services under a previous GEARUP grant, but have not yet completed the 12th grade.
Requires grantees, if they do not use a cohort approach in providing GEARUP services, to treat disconnected students as priority students for participation in GEARUP.
Allows GEARUP applicants or grantees to request reduced matching requirements due to unforeseen changes in circumstances. Treats every nonfederal dollar spent to provide GEARUP students with financial assistance for postsecondary education as two dollars for the purpose of satisfying the matching requirement.
Includes among permissible GEARUP activities: (1) special programs or tutoring in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics; (2) financial and economic literacy education or counseling; (3) promotion of the importance of a college education; and (4) state provision of technical assistance to elementary and secondary schools, and GEARUP partnerships.
Alters the formula for determining the minimum GEARUP scholarship.
(Sec. 404) Repeals the Academic Achievement Incentive Scholarships program.
(Sec. 405) Reauthorizes appropriations for federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG) for FY2009-FY2013. Increases the allowance for books and supplies in determining cost of attendance under SEOG.
(Sec. 406) Reauthorizes appropriations for the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) Program for FY2009-FY2013. Increases the maximum LEAP grant from $5,000 to $12,500.
Replaces the Special Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (SLEAP) program with the Grants for Access and Persistence program. Requires state grantees to be in partnership with: (1) at least one public and one private IHE in the state; (2) early information and intervention, mentoring, or outreach programs in the state; and (3) at least one philanthropic organization or business in the state. Requires such partnerships to: (1) coordinate the provision of financial assistance to low-income students; (2) provide need-based grants for access and persistence to eligible low-income students; (3) provide early notification to low-income students of their eligibility for financial aid; and (4) encourage such students' participation in early information and intervention, mentoring, or outreach programs.
Sets the federal share of funds for the Grants for Access and Persistence program at: (1) 57%, if the state partnership includes IHEs whose combined enrollment is less than half of the student enrollment in the state; and (2) 66.66%, if more than half of the students in the state are enrolled in a participating IHE.
(Sec. 407) Reauthorizes appropriations for special programs for students whose families are engaged in migrant and seasonal farmwork (the High School Equivalency program and the College Assistance Migrant Program, HEP/CAMP) for FY2009-FY2013.
Revises eligibility requirements for both programs to make it the students or their immediate family which must engage in the requisite period of migrant and seasonal farmwork, rather than they or their parents.
Includes preparation for college entrance examinations and activities to improve persistence and retention in postsecondary education among the services provided under the HEP program.
Adds economic or personal finance education, internships, and certain follow-up services to authorized CAMP activities.
Increases the minimum allocation for each project under both programs.
Requires that at least 45% of appropriations be devoted to the HEP and at least 45% be devoted to the CAMP.
(Sec. 408) Replaces the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship program with the Robert C. Byrd American Competitiveness program composed of: (1) a Mathematics and Science Honors Scholarship program for students who are earning baccalaureate or advanced degrees in science, mathematics, or engineering and who agree to serve for five consecutive years in a field relevant to such degree; (2) a Mathematics and Science Incentive program under which the Secretary assumes the obligation to pay the interest due on FFELs and DLs by individuals who agree to serve for five consecutive years as highly qualified teachers of science, technology, engineering or mathematics within high need LEAs, or as mathematics, science, or engineering professionals; (3) a Foreign Language Partnerships program awarding grants to partnerships of IHEs and LEAs to recruit and train critical foreign language teachers, and establish innovative opportunities for students to achieve proficiency in such languages as they advance from elementary school through college; and (4) an Adjunct Teachers Corps program awarding grants to LEAs or partnerships of LEAs and public or private educational organizations or businesses to recruit and train individuals outside of the elementary and secondary education system who have expertise in mathematics, science, and critical foreign languages to serve as adjunct content specialists in such subjects at secondary schools.
Requires the Secretary to identify and report to Congress on best practices for strengthening the role of minority-serving IHEs in increasing our critical foreign language education efforts.
Authorizes appropriations for such program for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 409) Reauthorizes appropriations for the Child Care Access Means Parents in School program for FY2009-FY2013. Increases the minimum grant available to IHEs and decreases the amount of Pell Grant funds they must award each fiscal year to be eligible for such grants. Alters the definition of eligible low-income students to include those whose income makes them eligible for a Pell Grant. Requires program participants to report annually to the Secretary regarding their activities.
Requires the Secretary to publicize the availability of grants under such program.
(Sec. 410) Repeals the Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships program.
(Sec. 411) Requires TEACH grant applicants to be provided with a disclosure form regarding the service obligation attending such grants. Directs the Secretary to identify extenuating circumstances that would excuse grant recipients from service obligations.
Directs the Secretary to evaluate the effectiveness of TEACH grants.
Part B: Federal Family Education Loans - (Sec. 421) Extends federal insurance and interest subsidies on FFELs through FY2013, and through FY2017 for new FFELs provided to existing borrowers.
(Sec. 423) Requires lenders, secondary markets, holders, or guaranty agencies to provide, upon request, free and timely title IV student loan information to IHEs, or third party servicers working for IHEs, to prevent loan defaults by current or former students.
(Sec. 424) Directs the Secretary to submit annually to Congress an evaluation of the effect voluntary flexibility agreements with guaranty agencies (providing such agencies with statutory or regulatory waivers) have on the FFEL program.
(Sec. 425) Requires the repayment of FFEL principal by graduate or professional student borrowers to commence six months after the date the student ceases to carry at least one-half the normal full-time academic workload.
(Sec. 426) Directs lenders to clearly and conspicuously disclose to borrowers seeking to add federal Perkins loans (PLs) to federal consolidation loans that they will lose all PL interest-free periods and cease to be eligible for PL cancellation due to employment in certain public service jobs.
(Sec. 427) Extends the authority for federal consolidation loans through FY2013.
(Sec. 428) Raises, from 10% to 15%, the cohort default rate which IHE's must fall below to be exempt from FFEL multiple disbursement and first year student endorsement requirements.
(Sec. 429) Turns the Loan Forgiveness for Child Care Providers program into the Loan Forgiveness for Service in Areas of National Need program providing loan forgiveness under the FFEL and DL programs to certain full-time early childhood educators, nurses, foreign language specialists, librarians, highly qualified teachers, child welfare workers, speech-language pathologists and audiologists, national service participants, school counselors, public sector employees, nutrition professionals, medical specialists, mental health professionals, dentists, individuals employed in engineering, technology, applied sciences, or mathematics, physical therapists, and school superintendents, principals, or other administrators.
Authorizes appropriations for such program for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 430) Directs the Secretary to assume the obligation to repay student loans under the FFEL, DL, and PL programs on behalf of civil legal assistance attorneys for the duration of agreements between the Secretary and such attorneys requiring their continued employment in such capacity for at least three years. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into additional agreements with civil legal assistance attorneys who have completed their service obligation.
Authorizes appropriations for such program for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 431) Requires the Secretary to assume the obligation to repay or cancel the loans of student borrowers under the FFEL and DL programs who commit to volunteering as mentors of at-risk children for at least one school year and attend a recognized community college.
(Sec. 432) Requires the Secretary, prior to agreeing to any proposed claims settlement exceeding $1 million, to ask the Attorney General to review its terms.
(Sec. 433) Requires guaranty agencies to develop specific delinquency and default prevention programs, and provide training for students and families in budgeting and financial management.
(Sec. 434) Raises, from 25% to 30%, beginning in FY2012, the cohort default rate at which IHEs become ineligible for title IV student loan programs if they meet or exceed such rate for each of the three most recent fiscal years. Sets forth an appeals process allowing IHEs that meet or exceed such rate to obtain regulatory relief by demonstrating exceptional mitigating circumstances.
Requires an IHE whose cohort default rate meets or exceeds such threshold in any fiscal year to establish a default prevention task force to prepare a plan to remedy the situation and revise such plan if the school's failure continues for a second consecutive fiscal year. Directs the Secretary to place such IHEs' cohort default rates and remedial plans on the College Navigator website.
Raises from .0375 to .0625 the FFEL and DL participation rate index figure excepting from title IV student loan ineligibility based on its high cohort default rate any IHE that equals or falls below the participation rate index for any of the three most recent fiscal years.
(Sec. 434 [sic]) Includes as eligible FFEL lenders any national or state chartered banks with assets of less than $1 billion that have as their primary consumer credit function the making or holding of student FFELs.
(Sec. 435) Makes changes in the calculation of IHEs' cohort default rates for FFELs.
Directs the Secretary to collect and report cohort default data and life of cohort default rates for each category of IHE.
(Sec. 436) Requires the Secretary to accept documentation that the Department of Veterans Affairs has rated student borrowers as permanently and totally disabled as sufficient documentation for the discharge of their FFELs.
Part C: College Work/Study - (Sec. 441) Reauthorizes appropriations for Work-Study (WS) programs for FY2009-FY2013.
Allows WS funds to be used for activities that respond to community needs, including disaster preparation and response activities.
Increases the allowance for books and supplies in determining cost of attendance under the WS program.
Requires each IHE receiving WS program funds to include at least one civic education and participation project and give priority to employing students in educating and training the public about evacuation, emergency response, and injury prevention strategies relating to natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other emergencies. Allows the federal share of WS student compensation for such projects to exceed 75%.
Allows IHEs in major disaster-affected areas to pay disaster-affected students amounts equal to or less than the amounts such students would have been paid had the students been able to complete their work obligation.
(Sec. 442) Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to IHEs to supplement off-campus community service employment. Gives grant priority to IHEs that support postsecondary students who assist in early childhood education and disaster preparation and response activities.
Authorizes appropriations for such grant program for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 443) Revises work college requirements by: (1) referring to work college programs as comprehensive work-learning-service programs; (2) limiting eligibility to four-year degree-granting IHEs; and (3) requiring resident students, including at least half of all resident students enrolled on a full-time basis, to participate in a comprehensive work-learning-service program for at least five hours each week, or not less than 80 hours during each period of enrollment, unless they are engaged in study abroad or externship programs approved by the school.
Part D: Federal Direct Student Loans - (Sec. 451) Extends funding through FY2013 for the costs of administering the FFEL and DL programs and paying FFEL account maintenance fees to guaranty agencies.
(Sec. 452) Clarifies the definition of public service jobs for the purpose of DL cancellations for public service employees.
(Sec. 453) Requires the Secretary to ensure that monthly DL statements and other Department publications do not contain more than four digits of any individual's social security number.
(Sec. 454) Provides that no interest shall accrue on DLs disbursed after FY2007 to individuals who are serving on active duty or performing National Guard duty during a war or other military operation or national emergency and are serving in areas of hostilities in which service qualifies for special pay. Limits receipt of such benefit to 60 months.
Requires the Secretary of Education to offer direct consolidation loans to eligible service members who want to avoid the accrual of interest on existing loans.
(Sec. 455) Requires the Secretary to: (1) arrange for an annual independent audit of loans and contracts under the DL program and guaranty agencies participating in the FFEL program; and (2) make publicly available annual and quarterly reports on the use of funds under the DL and FFEL programs.
Part E: Perkins Loans - (Sec. 461) Reauthorizes appropriations for PLs for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 462) Increases the allowance for books and supplies in determining cost of attendance under the program.
(Sec. 463) Allows IHEs to refer PLs to the Secretary for collection, but limits the Secretary's authority to to require their assignment to the Secretary.
(Sec. 464) Increases: (1) the maximum PL amount a student may receive in an academic year to $5,500 for undergraduate students and $8,000 for graduate or professional students; and (2) aggregate limits on the unpaid principal amount of PLs made to a student, to $60,000 for graduate or professional students, $27,500 for undergraduate students who have completed two years of undergraduate studies, and $11,000 for other students.
Requires documentation of PL forbearance agreements between IHEs and borrowers.
Allows defaulted PLs to be rehabilitated if the borrower makes 9 (currently, 12) ontime, consecutive, monthly payments of amounts due.
(Sec. 465) Revises requirements for the cancellation of loans for certain public service to include service: (1) in a prekindergarten or child care program; (2) as a full-time firefighter; (3) as a full-time faculty member at a tribal college or university; (4) as a librarian with a master's degree working in an elementary school eligible for assistance under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA-I eligible) or in a public library serving an area containing an ESEA-I eligible school; and (5) as a full-time speech language therapist with a master's degree working exclusively with ESEA-I eligible schools.
Provides loan cancellation for such occupations and for service in the armed forces in an area of hostilities at the rate of 15% for the first or second year of service, 20% for the third or fourth year of service, and 30% for the fifth year of service (though loan cancellation for service in prekindergarten or child care programs is provided at the rate of 15% for each year of such service).
(Sec. 466) Expresses the sense of Congress that the PL program is an important part of federal student aid and should remain a campus-based aid program, strengthened by increased federal funding and the restoration of capital contribution funds.
Part F: Need Analysis - (Sec. 471) Expands the definition of an allowance for room and board to include an allowance for expenses reasonably incurred for board, but not for room, for those students who receive a military housing allowance or live on base.
(Sec. 472) Includes an individual's nursing home expenses within the special circumstances financial aid administrators may consider in analyzing an individual's need.
(Sec. 473) Defines total income for dislocated workers as the estimated adjusted gross income plus estimated untaxed income minus the estimated excludable income for the current tax year.
Excludes the value of on-base military housing or a military housing allowance from consideration as untaxed income or benefits in the need analysis formula.
Excludes earnings from IHE cooperative education work programs from need analyses.
Reduces, for the first year a student receives veterans' education benefits, the factor in the eligibility formula representing estimated educational financial assistance already received by the student by the amount of military pay deductions made for such benefits.
(Sec. 474) Requires the Secretary to arrange for the use, with taxpayer consent, of tax return data from the second preceding tax year when and to the extent necessary to simplify need analyses.
Part G: General Provisions - (Sec. 481) Directs the Secretary to provide to IHEs before each award year a compliance calendar listing all reports and disclosures required under HEA, including specified information.
(Sec. 482) Requires the Secretary to make the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA): (1) consumer-friendly, with the goal of 50% fewer data elements; (2) available in both paper and (downloadable) electronic formats; (3) flexible enough to permit applicants to enter data years before enrolling and selectively update information; and (4) include data elements relevant to state student aid determinations.
Directs the Secretary to develop a simplified paper EZ FAFSA for applicants having no expected family contributions and simplified electronic FAFSAs for applicants to whom a simplified needs test applies.
Directs the Secretary to conduct a demonstration program assessing the feasibility and benefits of allowing dependent students to apply for aid in their junior year of high school or two years before their enrollment in an IHE.
Requires the Secretary, within one year of this Act's enactment, to develop a model IHE financial aid offer form that presents in a consumer-friendly manner: (1) the student's cost of attendance; (2) the amount of financial aid that the student does not have to repay and the conditions under which such aid is renewable; (3) the amount of work-study assistance the student is eligible to receive; (4) the amount and terms of title IV loans available to student and their parents; (5) the cost of attendance minus the financial aid offered; and (6) where to seek additional financial aid information.
(Sec. 483) Directs the Secretary to use any savings accrued by moving more applicants to electronic FAFSAs to increase access to such forms by students who meet simplified needs test or zero expected family contribution requirements.
(Sec. 484) Urges the Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury to develop a process allowing the Department, with the applicant's permission, to complete the FAFSA and provide early estimates of aid eligibility by drawing income information directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
(Sec. 485) Makes citizens of Palau eligible for Pell Grants until September 30, 2009.
Makes students convicted of a drug offense eligible for assistance under the title IV or WS programs if they pass two unannounced drug tests conducted by a drug rehabilitation program.
Makes eligible for HEA student aid any intellectually disabled students who have been accepted for enrollment and are maintaining satisfactory progress in an IHE comprehensive transition and postsecondary education program for such students.
Requires the Secretary to analyze FAFSA data and report to Congress regarding the number, characteristics, and circumstances of students denied federal student aid based on drug convictions while receiving such aid.
(Sec. 486) Provides that a borrower may not raise a defense based on infancy against an IHE collecting an obligation under the PL program.
(Sec. 487) Requires IHEs to justify any policy requiring students who are a members of the Armed Forces and whose school attendance is interrupted by active duty to apply for readmission after the conclusion of such active duty.
(Sec. 488) Adds to the institutional information IHEs must provide by including information on: (1) policies and sanctions related to copyright infringement; (2) institutional policies regarding meningoccal vaccinations; (3) plans for coordination with state and local law enforcement agencies in investigating specified felonies and missing student reports; (4) additional categories of hate crimes occurring on or off campus; (5) immediate emergency response and evacuation procedures; (6) transfer of credit policies; (7) fire safety practices and standards; and (8) penalties for student drug violations.
Sets forth requirements regarding such emergency response and evacuation procedures, including the requirement that such procedures be tested on an annual basis.
Requires IHEs to: (1) include on registration or enrollment forms an item allowing students to identify an individual they wish the school to contact if the student is reported missing; (2) establish protocols requiring that missing person reports regarding students be referred to the school's police or campus security department; and (3) if the student has been missing for over 24 hours, contact the individual identified by the student or the parent of the student if the student is under age eighteen.
(Sec. 489) Directs the Secretary to provide technical assistance to states and public IHEs to develop, enhance, and implement, comprehensive articulation agreements among such IHEs in a state, and (to the extent practicable) across state lines, by 2010. Requires the Secretary to conduct a study and report to Congress regarding the implementation of such agreements.
(Sec. 490) Requires IHEs that enter into preferred lender arrangements to make available to students and parents preferred lender lists that: (1) include the model disclosure form information that preferred lenders must provide to such schools; (2) fully disclose the reason for each lender's inclusion and the students' right to choose other lenders; (3) include at least three unaffiliated lenders and, if the school promotes or endorses private educational loans, at least two unaffiliated lenders of such loans; and (4) prominently disclose the process used to ensure that lenders are selected on the basis of the benefits they provide borrowers.
Requires IHEs to: (1) report annually to the Secretary the number and percentage of students taking classes on-line or through distance education, and the number and percentage of courses they offer on-line or through distance education; and (2) disclose to alleged victims of violent crime or non-forcible sex offenses, or to their next of kin if they have died, the final results of any disciplinary proceedings against alleged student perpetrators of such crimes.
Subjects to sanctions any proprietary IHEs that do not earn at least 10% of their revenue from non-title IV sources (the 90/10 rule), including suspension of their title IV eligibility after two consecutive years of noncompliance. Continues such suspension for at least the three fiscal years following the fiscal year in which they become ineligible.
Set forth rules for the calculation of non-title IV revenue.
Requires the Secretary to identify on the College Navigator website any IHE that fails to meet the 90/10 rule.
Requires IHEs to establish policies, which may include forensic scrubs, on the disposal or disposition of all technology assets which may contain personal and sensitive data of their students.
Requires IHEs to provide each admitted student considering an undergraduate or graduate program with: (1) a multi-year tuition and fee schedule; or (2) a single-year tuition and fee schedule, and a nonbinding, multi-year estimate of net costs after all financial aid is awarded, including the average deviation between previous year estimates and actual net costs. Waives the application of such requirement to schools that demonstrate that certain events have made a commitment to such a schedule impracticable.
Permits the Secretary to modify audit requirements for foreign IHEs, and waive such requirements for foreign IHEs that have loan volumes under $500,000.
Requires an additional compliance audit of an IHE if more than 5% of its students receive title IV or WS assistance without having graduated from secondary school.
Requires IHEs to inform: (1) private educational lenders of each loan applicant's enrollment status, cost of attendance, and the difference between such cost and the applicant's estimated financial assistance from other sources; and (2) borrowers of their ability to select a private educational lender of their choice and the impact of proposed private loans on their eligibility for other financial assistance.
(Sec. 491) Directs the Secretary to continue the voluntary participation of any experimental site in existence as of July 1, 2007, under the Quality Assurance program (which allows certain IHEs to implement their own comprehensive student aid management systems), unless the site fails to satisfy the program's purposes.
(Sec. 492) Allows IHEs to transfer 25% of their WS program allotment to their PL program allotment.
(Sec. 493) Includes among the duties of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, monitoring the adequacy of total need-based aid available to low- and moderate-income students. Authorizes the Committee through FY2011.
(Sec. 495A) Requires IHEs to: (1) make information available to their students and employees regarding the illegal downloading and distribution of copyrighted materials (campus-based digital theft); and (2) develop plans to provide alternatives to, and deter, such illegal downloading.
Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive grants to IHEs for the implementation of programs to prevent the illegal downloading and distribution of intellectual property.
Authorizes appropriations for such grant program for FY2009-FY2013.
Part H: Program Integrity - (Sec. 496) Revises requirements for recognition of an accrediting agency or association.
Requires accreditors to: (1) demonstrate, where applicable, that their standards effectively address an IHE's distance education programs (without requiring them to have separate distance education standards); (2) consider different standards of success developed by different IHEs; (3) confirm that an IHE has publicly disclosed transfer policies that include a statement of the IHE's criteria regarding the transfer of credit earned at another IHE; and (4) take into consideration and address a school's response to any review or determination.
Prohibits accreditors from making a determination or taking adverse action based upon an unpublished or undocumented policy, practice, or precedent.
Requires IHEs to submit teach-out plans for accreditor approval when they are to be sanctioned for violating student aid participation agreements, losing their accreditation, or intend to cease operations.
Prohibits the Secretary from issuing regulations regarding the specific standards an accrediting agency or association uses to assess an IHE.
(Sec. 497) Establishes an Accreditation Ombudsman to address the grievances of those involved in the accreditation process.
(Sec. 498) Sets forth additional requirements for accreditors regarding program review and data.
Requires the Secretary to provide an IHE with an adequate opportunity to review and respond to any program review report, and materials relevant to such report, before a final program review determination is reached.
(Sec. 499) Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury to evaluate a pilot program for the auction of FFEL PLUS loans, which is to be conducted by the Secretary, and report to Congress regarding the costs and benefits of such auction and the feasibility of auctioning other FFELs or using other market mechanisms to operate the FFEL program.
Requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct an independent evaluation of such pilot program by September 1, 2013.
Title V: Title V Amendments - Revises the title V Developing Institutions grant program for Hispanic-serving institutions.
(Sec. 501) Creates a new part B (Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans) program authorizing the Secretary to award competitive grants to Hispanic-serving institutions that are making substantive contributions to graduate educational opportunities for Hispanic students.
Sets the minimum title V grant amount at $200,000.
Authorizes the use of title V funds to improve the financial and economic literacy or students or their parents.
Reauthorizes title V appropriations for FY2009-FY2013.
Title VI: Title VI Amendments - Revises and reauthorizes title VI International Education programs.
(Sec. 601) Revises requirements for graduate and undergraduate language and area centers and programs. Includes among authorized activities: (1) supporting instructors of the less commonly taught languages; (2) projects that support in students an understanding of science and technology in coordination with foreign language proficiency; and (3) center partnerships with LEAs and elementary and secondary schools to increase student knowledge of foreign languages and world regions.
Makes undergraduates eligible for fellowships for foreign language and area or international studies.
Revises requirements for undergraduate international studies and foreign language programs. Authorizes grant recipients to use up to 10% of their grant for educational programs abroad that promote foreign language fluency and knowledge of world regions.
Revises provisions under the technological innovation and cooperation for foreign information access program to authorize grants to partnerships between IHEs or libraries and nonprofit educational organizations, including museums. Authorizes the use of grant funds to purchase foreign information and establish linkages with foreign institutions to facilitate access to such information. Allows the Secretary to reduce or waive the cost sharing requirement for certain IHEs receiving assistance under title III or V.
Reauthorizes appropriations under part A (International and Foreign Language Studies) of title VI for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 602) Authorizes IHE centers for international business education to use grant funds to work with foreign countries to encourage the advancement and understanding of cultural, technological management, and manufacturing software systems.
Allows the Secretary to reduce or waive the cost sharing requirements under part B (Business and International Education Programs) of title VI for certain IHEs receiving assistance under title III or V of the HEA.
Reauthorizes appropriations for FY2009-FY2013 for such programs, including centers for international business education and education and training programs.
(Sec. 603) Revises Institute for International Public Policy (IIPP) programs under part C of title V to specifically include, in addition to historically Black colleges and universities, tribally controlled colleges or universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, and IHEs that serve substantial numbers of underrepresented minority students, in the foreign service professional development program.
Requires the IIPP institutional development program to promote collaboration among the minority-serving institutions receiving funds under such program.
Includes Alaska Native-serving, Native Hawaiian-serving, and Hispanic-serving institutions in the study abroad and internships programs.
Turns the IIPP masters degree in international relations program into a program leading to an advanced degree in international relations, international affairs, international economics, or other academic areas related to the IIPP fellow's career objectives.
Repeals the Interagency Committee on Minority Careers in International Affairs.
Refers to students who participate in the internship programs as Ralph J. Bunche Fellows.
Makes the current annual IIPP report biennial.
Reauthorizes appropriations for the IIPP for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 604) Creates a new Preparing for Early Foreign Language Instruction program. Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive five-year grants to partnerships between IHE foreign language departments and LEAs to prepare, provide professional development to, and develop teaching materials for elementary and secondary school teachers. Gives grant priority to partnerships that include high-need LEAs or emphasize the teaching of commonly taught and critical foreign languages in articulated programs. Authorizes appropriations for such program for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 605) Prohibits the Secretary from using more than 1% of title VI funds for International Education program evaluation, national outreach, and information dissemination activities.
(Sec. 606) Requires applicants for title VI funds for student travel and study abroad to describe their policies and procedures for keeping students safe.
(Sec. 607) Creates a new Science and Technology Advanced Foreign Language Education Grant program requiring the Secretary to award grants to IHEs that develop innovative programs that combine the study of foreign languages with the study of science and technology. Gives grant priority to IHEs teaching critical foreign languages. Authorizes appropriations for such program.
(Sec. 608) Requires IHEs to report gifts in excess $1 million in a fiscal year that are received from a foreign government or private entity and intended for use in a title VI program.
(Sec. 609) Requires the Secretary to establish a marketing campaign to encourage students to study foreign languages.
Title VII: Title VII Amendments - Revises and reauthorizes title VII Graduate and Post-Secondary Improvement programs.
(Sec. 701) Treats a master's degree in fine arts as a terminal degree, permitting students pursuing such degree to participate in the Jacob K. Javits Fellows program.
Allows IHEs to grant fellowship recipients an interruption of study in exceptional circumstances, such as active duty military service or a personal or family illness.
Directs the Secretary, in appointing members of the Jacob K. Javits Fellows Program Fellowship Board, to include representatives from diverse geographic regions and at least one representative representing a minority-serving institution.
Reauthorizes appropriations for the program for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 702) Specifies the entities with which the Secretary must consult, and additional considerations to take into account, in determining areas of national need under the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need program.
Gives priority to grants preparing faculty to train highly qualified elementary and secondary school teachers of math, science, special education, and LEP students.
Reauthorizes appropriations for the program for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 703) Revises the Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity program to involve middle and high school students in the program and provide Thurgood Marshall Fellowships to law school students who participate in certain summer institutes.
Reauthorizes appropriations for FY2009-FY2013 for the program.
(Sec. 704) Establishes the Patsy T. Mink Fellowship program of awards to IHEs to assist highly qualified minorities and women acquire the terminal master's degrees or the doctorate degrees in academic areas in which such individuals are underrepresented for the purpose of entering the higher education professoriate. Directs the Secretary to award at least 50% of program funds to minority-serving institutions eligible for assistance under title III or V, or consortia that include such schools.
Requires fellowship recipients to serve at the IHE from which they received the fellowship for a period equivalent to the fellowship period.
Authorizes appropriations for the program for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 705) Directs the Secretary to award grants to certain historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions for the provision of fellowships to students earning their masters degrees in the physical or natural sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer science, information technology, nursing, allied health, or related scientific or health fields identified by the Secretary. Authorizes grantees to use up to 25% of a grant to strengthen their master's degree programs in such subjects; but requires them to raise an equal amount from other sources if they do so.
(Sec. 706) Adds to authorized activities under the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education program (FIPSE): (1) the assessment of teacher preparation programs; (2) initiatives to help schools reduce illegal downloading of copyrighted content; (3) the support of increased fire safety in student housing; (4) assessing the feasibility and potential design of an inter-institution organization monitoring gender and racial equality in faculty and administration; (5) programs increasing the secondary school graduation rates of LEP students and the number of eligible late-entering LEP students who pursue postsecondary education; (6) demonstration projects to provide comprehensive support services to ensure that homeless students, or students who were in foster care until the age of 18, enroll and succeed in postsecondary education; (7) promoting cultural diversity in the entertainment media industry; and (8) the creation of IHE consortia to establish interdisciplinary programs on poverty.
Establishes new FIPSE programs to create: (1) a scholarship program for the family members of veterans and military personnel; and (2) a center, at an IHE, to study and develop best practices to support single-parent students.
Prohibits the provision of FIPSE assistance to IHEs that fail to demonstrate that they are in compliance with a specified energy efficiency standard for new construction or renovations.
Adds support for the teaching of traditional American history and the incorporation of medical quality and safety into medical and nursing courses to the areas of national need eligible for FIPSE special project funding.
Reauthorizes appropriations for FY2009-FY2013 for the FIPSE program.
(Sec. 707) Turns the Urban Community Service program into the Urban-Serving Research Intuitions program. Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to urban-serving research universities to further develop and apply research findings to implement: (1) improvements in teacher quality and retention, or student postsecondary and workplace readiness in cooperation with elementary and secondary schools and other educational organizations; and (2) economic revitalization efforts and public health outreach, education, and intervention activities in partnership with community-based organizations and other public or nonprofit private entities.
Gives priority to applicants that propose to conduct joint projects supported by other local, state, and federal programs and to institutions that have been effectively engaged in serving their community.
Authorizes appropriations for FY2009-FY2013 for such program.
(Sec. 708) Expands the authorized uses of grants for programs (currently, demonstration projects) to ensure that disabled students receive a quality higher education to include: (1) the development of teaching methods and strategies to ensure the successful transition of disabled students from secondary to postsecondary education; and (2) making distance education, instructional materials, and curriculum development more accessible to such students.
Reauthorizes appropriations for FY2009-FY2013 for such programs.
Directs the Office of Postsecondary Education to provide for the establishment and support of a National Center for Information and Technical Support for Postsecondary Students with Disabilities to improve the postsecondary recruitment, retention, and completion success rates of such students.
Requires such center to: (1) provide information and technical assistance to disabled students, their families, and IHEs; (2) maintain a web-based data bank of IHE disability support services information; (3) work with disability support experts to consolidate, evaluate, improve upon, and disseminate information related to professional standards and best practices for IHE disability support services; and (4) report biennially regarding the postsecondary success of disabled students.
Establishes an advisory commission on accessible instructional materials in postsecondary education for students with disabilities to make recommendations for improving the timely delivery and quality of accessible instructional materials for postsecondary students, faculty, and staff with print disabilities.
Creates new model demonstration programs requiring the Secretary to award competitive grants to at least one partnership between an IHE and private entity to develop systems to improve the timely delivery and quality of postsecondary instructional materials in specialized formats to students with print disabilities. Allows the Secretary to expand the program to additional grantees if after three years the model programs prove to be effective.
Establishes a new competitive matching grant program for IHEs to create or expand high-quality, inclusive model comprehensive transition and postsecondary programs for students with intellectual disabilities focusing on academic enrichment, socialization, independent living, and integrated work experiences and career skills. Includes in such program students who: (1) are eligible for assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and have completed secondary school; or (2) are not eligible for such assistance because they exceed the maximum age for free public education in their state. (Section 485 of this Act makes program participants eligible for HEA student aid.)
Directs the Office of Postsecondary Education to enter into a cooperative agreement with an entity that has relevant experience for the establishment of a coordinating center for technical assistance, evaluation, and recommendations related to the development of accreditation standards for IHEs that offer inclusive comprehensive transition and postsecondary programs for students with intellectual disabilities.
(Sec. 709) Allows guaranty agencies to be eligible partners in the College Access Challenge Grant program.
(Sec. 710) Directs the Secretary to award competitive grants to: (1) undergraduate registered nurse (R.N.) nursing programs to expand faculty and facilities to accommodate additional students; or (2) graduate nursing programs to accommodate advanced practice degrees for R.N.s or provide teachers for nursing students.
Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to partnerships composed of an accredited nursing school at an IHE and a hospital or health facility to establish up to five pilot projects to enable such hospital or facility to retain its staff of experienced nurses while providing a mechanism to have these individuals become, through an accelerated nursing education program, faculty members of an accredited nursing school.
(Sec. 711) Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study and report to Congress, within two years of this Act's enactment, on barriers to, and opportunities for, the full participation of disabled students in higher education.
Title VIII: Additional Programs - (Sec. 801) Establishes a new title VIII (Additional Programs) of the HEA.
Authorizes appropriations for title VIII programs for FY2009-2013.
Establishes a Low Tuition program requiring the Secretary to award: (1) grants to IHEs that, for an academic year, have a net tuition (tuition and fees, minus grant amounts) increase that does not exceed the percentage change in the postsecondary education price index, are public IHEs whose net tuition is in the lowest quartile of comparable IHEs, or are public IHEs whose tuition increase is less than $500 for full-time undergraduate students; and (2) bonus amounts to public and private IHEs whose tuition is in the lowest quartile of comparable IHEs, public IHEs that guarantee that their net tuition increase will not exceed $500 per year for full-time undergraduate students, and IHEs that guarantee that their net tuition will not outpace changes in such index, over specified periods of time. Requires IHEs to distribute such grants and bonuses as need-based grant aid to students who are eligible for federal Pell Grants.
Requires IHEs whose annual net tuition increase outpaces such index to issue an explanatory report to the Secretary that includes actions being taken to remedy the situation. Exempts public IHEs whose tuition is in the lowest quartile of comparable IHEs from such reporting requirement.
Establishes a Cooperative Education program authorizing the Secretary to award competitive grants to IHEs for cooperative education programs that provide alternating or parallel periods of study and employment, giving students work experience related to their academic or occupational objectives and the earnings needed to finance their education.
Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to, or enter into contracts with, IHEs or nonprofit organizations for: (1) demonstration projects testing innovations in cooperative education; (2) cooperative education training and resource centers; and (3) cooperative education research.
Authorizes the Secretary to make College Partnership grants to partnerships between IHEs and between IHEs and states for the implementation of articulation agreements between IHEs, academic program enhancements, and the removal of barriers that inhibit student transfers.
Authorizes the Secretary to establish a pilot program awarding competitive, matching, Student Success grants to IHEs in which, during the preceding three-year period, an average of at least 50% of entering first-year students were enrolled in developmental courses to bring their reading, writing, or mathematics skills up to college-level.
Requires the grants to be used to help Pell grant eligible students persevere in postsecondary education, beginning from their first year of study. Requires such help to include the assignment of a Student Success Coach to every student participant to provide intensive career and academic advising, ongoing personal help in navigating college services, and assistance in connecting to community resources that can help students overcome family and personal challenges to success.
Directs the Secretary to provide technical assistance to grantees who, after three years, are not significantly improving their student participants' perseverance in their studies.
Creates a Jobs to Careers program directing the Secretary to award competitive grants to IHEs to improve remedial education, customize remediation to student career goals, and help remedial students progress into and through for-credit occupational programs.
Gives grant priority to IHEs: (1) in which at least 50% of the first-year students are enrolled in remedial courses designed to give them collegiate reading, writing, or mathematics skills; and (2) that propose to collaborate with adult education providers or replicate practices that have proven effective with adults.
Establishes a Project GRAD program authorizing the Secretary to award a grant to Project GRAD USA (a nonprofit educational organization aiming to improve high school graduation and college attendance and completion rates for disadvantaged students) to provide technical assistance and support through subcontracts to existing and new programs that implement a set of integrated education reform services.
Requires the grantee to select only subcontractors that serve a substantial number or percentage of low-income students. Requires the programs to identify one or more groups of public schools at which services will be provided through a feeder pattern through which elementary and secondary schools channel students having participated in program services into an identified high school.
Requires Project GRAD program services to include: (1) research-based programs in reading, mathematics, and classroom management; (2) campus-based social services programs, including increasing family and community involvement in schools; (3) a college access program providing college scholarships for students who meet established criteria, increasing student and family college awareness, and assisting students to apply for college financial aid; and (4) other services the grantee identifies as necessary.
Directs the Secretary to award a grant to a nonprofit organization to conduct a needs assessment of, and provide comprehensive services to, urban LEAs and rural states to improve higher education enrollment rates.
Requires the Secretary to make available to the Secretary of Homeland Security and the heads of other appropriate federal agencies a list of: (1) accreditors recognized by the Secretary or by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation; (2) IHEs eligible under FFEL program; and (3) foreign IHEs whose authority to issue degrees is accepted in their home country and that the Secretary deems to be academically equivalent to FFEL participants in this country.
Conditions a school's eligibility for student assistance funding under title IV on its providing notice on its internet website of its recognition by the Secretary as a legitimate degree-granting institution for immigration and federal employment purposes. Requires an accreditor to be on such list for its authority to be recognized for any federal purpose.
Requires the Secretary to establish the Diploma Mill Task Force to develop: (1) guidelines for distinguishing between legitimate and fraudulent degree-granting institutions for federal purposes; (2) a strategic diploma integrity protection plan to address the sale and use of fraudulent degrees; and (3) legislative language to effectuate such plan.
Urges states to implement strategic diploma integrity plans similar to the federal plan; though allows them to adopt standards that are more stringent than the federal standards.
Directs the Federal Trade Commission to develop a plan to address diploma mills under its authority to ban unfair and deceptive acts or practices.
Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive matching grants to IHEs to do one or more of the following: (1) develop and implement a state-of-the art emergency communications system; (2) take measures to improve IHE safety; or (3) coordinate, with appropriate local entities, the provision of mental health services to students and staff affected by a campus or community emergency. Requires the Secretary to advise IHEs and disseminate information concerning model emergency response policies, procedures, and practices.
Requires the Secretary to develop a disaster relief plan so that a procedure is in place to address the needs of IHEs in the event of a federally declared major disaster or emergency.
Authorizes the Secretary to establish an Education Disaster and Emergency Relief Loan program for IHEs for direct or indirect losses incurred as a result of a federally declared major disaster or emergency.
Directs the Secretary to provide guidance that clarifies the role of IHEs regarding disclosures of a student's education records in the event that such student demonstrates significant risk of harm to himself or herself or to others. Requires such guidance to clarify that IHEs that in good faith comply with the requirements of this Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 shall not be held liable for that disclosure.
Authorizes the Secretary award grants to partnerships between rural IHEs and rural LEAs, rural education service agencies, regional employers, or rural education nonprofit organizations for activities to: (1) improve the rural IHE enrollment rates of rural high school graduates and former attendees; and (2) encourage nontraditional students' participation in rural IHE degree programs.
Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to partnerships between rural IHEs and regional employers to: (1) provide additional training to rural IHE attendees in careers relevant to the regional economy; and (2) encourage regional businesses to employ rural IHE graduates. Gives priority to partnerships that include regional employers located in a rural area.
Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to rural IHEs to create or strengthen academic programs that prepare graduates to enter high-need occupations in the regional and local economies.
Authorizes the Secretary to award a grant to a partnership of IHEs and private career organizations to expand programs for the development of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics professionals, from elementary school through college, including existing programs for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students.
Directs the Secretary to establish and maintain, on the Department's public website, a database of information on public and private programs of financial assistance for the study of postsecondary and graduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Requires such database to: (1) provide separate information for each field of study; (2) be searchable by category and combinations of categories; (3) indicate programs targeted toward specific demographic groups; (4) provide searchers with program sponsor contact information and hyperlinks; and (5) include a recommendation that students and families carefully review application requirements and a disclaimer that scholarships presented in the database are not provided or endorsed by the Department or the federal government.
Directs the Secretary to make competitive grants to certain accredited court reporting programs to promote the recruitment, training, and placement of individuals, including those who have completed a court reporting training program, as realtime writers providing closed captioning in video programming.
Directs the Secretary to award grants to IHEs to develop model programs for students who are veterans that involve the establishment by each grantee of a campus Center of Excellence for Veteran Student Success providing a single point of contact for the coordination of comprehensive support services for such students.
Directs the Secretary to make grants to establish sustainability programs at IHEs.
Requires such programs to develop and implement: (1) sustainability practices, including in the areas of energy management, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, green building, waste management, purchasing, transportation, and toxics management; and (2) other aspects of sustainability that integrate campus operations with multidisciplinary educational programs and can apply to the private and government sectors.
Directs the Secretary to convene a summit of higher education experts, federal representatives, and business and industry leaders to encourage cooperative efforts to enhance sustainability programs at IHEs and apply such programs to the community and workplace.
Requires the Secretary to establish a taskforce within the Department to recommend improvements to the study of modeling and simulation, and identify the core capacities that students in such programs should acquire.
Authorizes the Secretary to award: (1) competitive grants to IHEs for the enhancement of their existing modeling and simulation programs; and (2) grants to IHEs for the establishment of such programs.
Establishes the Business Workforce Partnerships program requiring the Secretary to award competitive grants to partnerships between IHEs, employers, and, where applicable, labor organizations to strengthen ties between college degree credit offerings and business and industry workforce needs. Gives priority to grant applicants focused on serving nontraditional students who are independent, and who: (1) are the first generation in their family to attend college; (2) have delayed college enrollment; or (3) have dependents.
Requires the Secretary and the Secretary of Labor to report to Congress on statutory changes that would strengthen ties between college degree credit offerings and business and industry workforce needs.
Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to community colleges to establish partnerships with juvenile detention centers and secure juvenile justice residential facilities to provide assistance, services, and education to individuals age 16 through 25 who have served or are serving time in juvenile detention facilities for a gang-related offense who reenter the community and pursue: (1) a secondary education graduation certificate, a general equivalency diploma (GED), or equivalent certificate or diploma; (2) a certificate of completion for a specialized area of study; or (3) an associate's degree.
Requires such education programs to establish a uniquely designed education plan for each individual program participant that requires the individual to receive at least a secondary education certificate or diploma in order to complete the program successfully.
(Sec. 802) Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury will work together with the GAO to establish a system whereby borrowers could convert their federal student loans to income contingent direct IDEA loans, payments for which would be made using the income tax withholding system.
(Sec. 803) Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with NAS to evaluate the quality of distance education programs as compared to campus-based education programs at IHEs.
(Sec. 804) Expresses the sense of the Committee on Education and Labor that there is a need for sustainable economic and environmental practices and rigorous sustainability academic programs on college and university campuses to encourage increased public awareness of the need to "go green."
(Sec. 805) Directs the Secretary to commission the National Research Council to study and report to Congress on the viability of developing and implementing standards in environmental, health, and safety areas to provide for differential regulation of: (1) industrial laboratories and facilities; and (2) research and teaching laboratories.
(Sec. 806) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress and state superintendents of education on underrepresented minority males, particularly African American and Hispanic males, completing high school and entering into and completing postsecondary education.
(Sec. 807) Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study and report to Congress on any race, ethnicity, and gender biases present in the design of standardized tests that are used for admission to IHEs.
(Sec. 808) Directs the Congressional Budget Office to study and report to Congress on the feasibility of allowing borrowers who are repaying HEA student loans the option of selecting or renegotiating a fixed or variable interest rate and the repayment period of such loans.
(Sec. 809) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the amounts, uses, and public purposes of IHE endowments.
(Sec. 810) Directs the Secretary to assess and report to Congress on the effects of providing prisoners with a postsecondary education.
(Sec. 811) Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive grants to IHEs to support a National Undergraduate Fellows program to improve postsecondary degree completion rates of underrepresented students. Directs the Secretary to award a competitive grant to a national organization to support such program.
(Sec. 812) Establishes a National Center for Learning Science and Technology (the Center).
Establishes in the Treasury the National Center for Learning Science and Technology Trust Fund, the amounts of which may be used for: (1) supporting precompetitive and applied research development and demonstrations, and assessments of prototypes of innovative digital learning and information technologies and the components and tools needed to create them; (2) supporting the pilot testing and evaluation of those prototype systems; (3) encouraging the widespread adoption and use of effective innovative digital approaches to learning; and (4) supporting innovative digital media education programs for parents, teachers, and children.
Authorizes the Director of the Center to award contracts and grants to colleges and universities, museums, libraries, public broadcasting entities, similar nonprofits and public institutions (with or without private partners), and for-profit organizations.
(Sec. 813) Directs the Comptroller General to study the education-related indebtedness of medical school graduates.
(Sec. 814) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the methodology used to determine expected family contribution, particularly: (1) the HEA title IV educational assistance need analysis formula; and (2) the need for regional sensitivity in need analysis.
(Sec. 815) Requires the Secretary to contract with the NAS Center for Education for a scientifically based study to determine if teachers are being adequately prepared to meet the needs of students with reading and language processing challenges, including dyslexia. Requires reports to the Secretary and to Congress. Directs the Secretary is to assemble a task force to make policy recommendations regarding the Center's findings.
(Sec. 816) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on whether lengthening the standard 10-year FFEL repayment period would assist borrowers in low-income areas in repaying their loans.
(Sec. 817) Requires the Secretary to request the NAS Institute of Medicine to study and report to the Secretary and Congress on: (1) constraints encountered by schools of nursing in admitting and graduating the number of registered nurses necessary to ensure patient safety and meet the need for quality assurance in the provision of health care; and (2) recommendations to alleviate the constraints on a short-term and long-term basis.
(Sec. 818) Directs the Secretary to coordinate with public service organizations and interested parties a study and report to Congress on: (1) the effect of student loan debt levels on the decisions of graduates of postsecondary and graduate education programs to enter into public service; and (2) measures that might be taken, including a pilot academy for public service, to recruit and retain well-qualified public servants.
(Sec. 819) Requires the Secretary to contract with the National Research Council to study for a report to Congress on: (1) the amount and scope of all federal regulations and reporting requirements with which IHEs must comply; and (2) recommendations for consolidating, streamlining, and eliminating those that are redundant and burdensome.
(Sec. 820) Directs the Secretary to: (1) study and report to Congress on the feasibility of expanding the student aid available under title IV of the HEA to less-than-half-time students; and (2) recommend to Congress a demonstration project, statutory and regulatory modifications, and accountability mechanisms to facilitate that expansion.
(Sec. 821) Requires the Secretary to make competitive grants to up to 10 IHEs to support pilot programs that make it possible for bookstores to give students the option of saving money by renting course materials.
Title IX: Amendments to Other Laws - Part A: Education of the Deaf Act of 1986 - (Sec. 901) Amends the Education of the Deaf Act of 1986 (EDA) to identify the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center as the place where Gallaudet University's EDA elementary and secondary programs are to be held. Requires Gallaudet to adopt, for such elementary and secondary programs, a state's approved academic content and achievement standards and assessments.
(Sec. 903) Provides that, if the Secretary or the IHE with which the Secretary has an agreement to operate and maintain the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) terminates such agreement, the Secretary shall consider proposals from other IHEs. Eliminates the NTID preference given to IHEs located in metropolitan industrial areas.
(Sec. 906) Reauthorizes appropriations for FY2008-FY2013 for monitoring, evaluation, and reporting under the EDA.
(Sec. 908) Reauthorizes appropriations for FY2008-FY2013 for federal endowment programs for Gallaudet University and NTID under the EDA.
(Sec. 910) Exempts international students participating in distance learning through Gallaudet University or NTID from: (1) counting against the international student enrollment cap, though prohibits their displacing U.S. citizens applying for such courses; and (2) the tuition surcharge other international students at such schools must pay.
Requires such schools to reduce the tuition surcharge from 100% to 50% for international students from developing countries. Permits such schools to use a sliding scale to reduce such surcharge to no less than 25% for students from developing countries, and to no less than 50% for students from non-developing countries, if such students demonstrate need and have made a good effort to secure aid from their home country or other sources.
Makes $5,345 the maximum per capita income level at which a country is considered a developing country, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for inflation.
(Sec. 912) Updates the national study on the education of the deaf to require the Secretary to establish a commission to conduct such study and reauthorize study appropriations for FY2008-FY2009.
(Sec. 913) Reauthorizes appropriations under the EDA for FY2008-FY2013 for: (1) Gallaudet University; (2) Kendall Demonstration Elementary School; (3) the Model Secondary School for the Deaf; and (4) NTID.
Part B: Indian Education - Subpart 1: Tribal Colleges and Universities - (Sec. 921) Amends the Tribally Controlled College or University Assistance Act of 1978 to define an Indian student as a member of an Indian tribe or a biological child of such a member.
Sets forth the method of determining credits earned in an Indian continuing education program, but limits such credits to 10% of the Indian student count of a tribally controlled college or university.
Requires tribally controlled college or university grantees to be accredited by a nationally recognized accreditor that meets the Secretary's approval or making progress toward such accreditation according to such accreditor.
Increases the grant amount per Indian student count from $6,000 to $8,000.
Reauthorizes appropriations for various programs under the Tribally Controlled College or University Assistance Act of 1978.
Establishes a grant program for two tribally controlled postsecondary career and technical institutions, the United Tribes Technical College and the Navajo Technical College.
Subpart 2: Navajo Higher Education - (Sec. 931) Amends the Navajo Community College Act to replace references to the Navajo Community College with references to Dine college. Reauthorizes appropriations for grants to Dine college for FY2008-FY2013. Adds the improvement and expansion of Dine college to authorized grant uses.
Part C: Higher Education Amendments of 1998; Higher Education Amendments of 1992 - (Sec. 941) Amends the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 to revise the program of grants to states for workplace and community transition training for incarcerated youth offenders to expand program participation to incarcerated individuals of all ages in state prisons or prerelease facilities.
Allows grantees to award eligible students up to: (1) $3,000 for tuition, books, and essential materials; and (2) $300 for related services each year. Limits the provision of educational services to the duration of a student's incarceration and related services, such as employment counseling, to no more than one year following the student's release.
Reauthorizes appropriations for the program for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 942) Reauthorizes appropriations for the Underground Railroad educational and cultural program for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 943) Repeals specified provisions under title VIII (Studies, Reports, and Related Programs) of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998.
(Sec. 944) Amends the Higher Education Amendments of 1992 to reauthorize appropriations for Olympic scholarships for FY2009-FY2013.
(Sec. 945) Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to establish, in the Department, an Office of International and Foreign Language Education, headed by an Assistant Secretary for International and Foreign Language Education with extensive experience in international and foreign language instruction.
Makes the Assistant Secretary responsible for: (1) promoting the study of foreign languages and cultures at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels; (2) administering the Department's programs on international and foreign language education and research, and its activities in international affairs; and (3) coordinating such programs with other related federal programs.
Part D: Justice Department Programs - (Sec. 951) Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to direct the Attorney General to assume the obligation to repay student loans for borrowers who agree to remain employed, for at least three years, as: (1) state or local criminal prosecutors; or (2) state, local, or federal public defenders in criminal cases. Allows a borrower and the Attorney General to enter into an additional loan repayment agreement, after the required three-year period, for a successive period of service which may be less than three years. Limits the amount paid under such program on behalf of any borrower to $10,000 per calendar year and $60,000 total.
Requires the Attorney General to give priority in granting repayment benefits to borrowers who have the least ability to repay their loans.
Requires the Inspector General of the Department of Justice to report to Congress on the cost of such loan repayment program and the impact such program has on the hiring and retention of prosecutors and public defenders.
Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the impact of law school accreditation requirements and other factors on law school costs and access, including the impact of such requirements on racial and ethnic minorities.
Authorizes appropriations for such program for FY2008-FY2013.
(Sec. 952) Authorizes the Attorney General to make grants, through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, to establish and operate a National Center for Campus Public Safety. Directs the Attorney General, in establishing the Center, to consult with the Secretary, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Attorney General of each state.
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that certain steps should be taken to improve student safety in off-campus housing.
(Sec. 953) Permits public or private IHEs, notwithstanding any other provision of law, to grant student loan forgiveness to students or alumni who are federal or District of Columbia employees, provided the IHE has a written, published policy regarding such forgiveness for students or alumni who perform public service.
Part E: Stevenson -Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 - (Sec. 961) Amends the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 to direct the Secretary of Commerce to establish a Minority Serving Institution Digital and Wireless Technology Opportunity program to assist minority-serving IHEs and minority IHEs that serve a high proportion of needy students in acquiring, and augmenting use of, digital and wireless networking technologies to improve the quality and delivery of educational services at such institutions.
Authorizes appropriations for such program for FY2008-FY2012.
Title X: Private Student Loan Transparency and Improvement - Private Student Loan Transparency and Improvement Act of 2008 - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to impose consumer protection and disclosure requirements on private educational lenders.
Subtitle A: Preventing Unfair and Deceptive Private Educational Lending Practices and Eliminating Conflicts of Interest - (Sec. 1011) Prohibits private educational lenders from: (1) offering or providing gifts to IHEs, or IHEs from receiving them, in exchange for loan business advantages; (2) revenue sharing with IHEs; (3) using IHEs' names or symbols in marketing their loans in a manner that implies that such IHEs endorse the loans; or (4) imposing fees or penalties on borrowers prepaying their loans.
Prohibits an institution's officers, employees, and agents that have financial aid duties from participating on the advisory councils of private educational lenders or their affiliates.
(Sec. 1012) Subjects private educational lenders to civil liability when they fail to comply with borrower protection and disclosure requirements. Requires civil actions to be brought within one year after the first regular payment of principal on the loan becomes due.
Subtitle B: Improved Disclosures for Private Educational Loans - (Sec. 1021) Sets forth the private student loan terms and conditions which lenders must clearly and conspicuously disclose to borrowers in any application or solicitation for such a loan and contemporaneously with the approval of a private student loan application. Gives private student loan borrowers 30 days after the loan is approved and the required loan disclosure information is received to accept and consummate the loan transaction.
Allows borrowers to cancel such loans, without penalty, within three business days of their consummation.
Requires private lenders, before issuing funds to a borrower, to: (1) provide written notification to the borrower's IHE regarding such loan; and (2) obtain the IHE's certification of the borrower's enrollment status, cost of attendance, and the difference between such cost and the borrower's estimated financial assistance.
(Sec. 1022) Makes the Truth in Lending Act applicable to all private educational loans.
Subtitle C: Financial Literacy - (Sec. 1031) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Secretary and certain other federal agencies, to take certain measures to enhance the financial literacy of postsecondary school students and assist them in navigating the financial aid process. Requires the Financial Literacy and Education Commission to report to Congress, within two years of this title's enactment, on the state of financial education among students at IHEs.
Subtitle D: Study and Report on Nonindividual Information - (Sec. 1041) Requires the Comptroller General to conduct a study and report to Congress on the impact nonindividual factors, including cohort default rates, accreditation, and graduation rates at IHEs, have on the pricing, types, and availability of private educational loans.
Subtitle E: Incentives for Low-Cost Educational Loans - (Sec. 1051) Amends the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 to require that, when a federal financial supervisory agency assesses the record of a financial institution in meeting the credit needs of its local communities, the agency consider low-cost educational loans provided by the financial institution to low-income borrowers.
Became Public Law No: 110-315.