I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1412

To provide the Secretary of Education with specific waiver authority to 

respond to a war or other military operation or national emergency. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 25, 2003

Mr. KLINE (for himself, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, 

Mr. MCKEON, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. FROST, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. 

UPTON, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. KELLER, Mr. OSBORNE, Mr. 

WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. COLE, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. GOODLATTE, 

Mr. HERGER, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, and Mr. CHOCOLA) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 

the Workforce 

A BILL

To provide the Secretary of Education with specific waiver 

authority to respond to a war or other military operation 

or national emergency.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS; REFERENCE. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act 

6 of 2003’’. 

7 (b) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) There is no more important cause than that 

2 of our nation’s defense. 

3 (2) The United States will protect the freedom 

4 and secure the safety of its citizens. 

5 (3) The United States military is the finest in 

6 the world and its personnel are determined to lead 

7 the world in pursuit of peace. 

8 (4) Hundreds of thousands of Army, Air Force, 

9 Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard reservists 

10 and members of the National Guard have been 

11 called to active duty or active service. 

12 (5) The men and women of the United States 

13 military put their lives on hold, leave their families, 

14 jobs, and postsecondary education in order to serve 

15 their country and do so with distinction. 

16 (6) There is no more important cause for this 

17 Congress than to support the members of the United 

18 States military and provide assistance with their 

19 transition into and out of active duty and active 

20 service. 

21 (B) REFERENCE.—References in this Act to ‘‘the 

22 Act’’ are references to the Higher Education Act of 1965 

23 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). 
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1 SEC. 2. WAIVER AUTHORITY FOR RESPONSE TO MILITARY 

2 CONTINGENCIES AND NATIONAL EMER3 GENCIES. 

4 (a) WAIVERS AND MODIFICATIONS.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

6 provision of law, unless enacted with specific ref7 erence to this section, the Secretary of Education 

8 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) may 

9 waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provi10 sion applicable to the student financial assistance 

11 programs under title IV of the Act as the Secretary 

12 deems necessary in connection with a war or other 

13 military operation or national emergency to provide 

14 the waivers or modifications authorized by para15 graph (2). 

16 (2) ACTIONS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary is 

17 authorized to waive or modify any provision de18 scribed in paragraph (1) as may be necessary to en19 sure that—

20 (A) recipients of student financial assist21 ance under title IV of the Act who are affected 

22 individuals are not placed in a worse position fi23 nancially in relation to that financial assistance 

24 because of their status as affected individuals; 

25 (B) administrative requirements placed on 

26 affected individuals who are recipients of stu-
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1 dent financial assistance are minimized, to the 

2 extent possible without impairing the integrity 

3 of the student financial assistance programs, to 

4 ease the burden on such students and avoid in5 advertent, technical violations or defaults; 

6 (C) the calculation of ‘‘annual adjusted 

7 family income’’ and ‘‘available income’’, as used 

8 in the determination of need for student finan9 cial assistance under title IV of the Act for any 

10 such affected individual (and the determination 

11 of such need for his or her spouse and depend12 ents, if applicable), may be modified to mean 

13 the sums received in the first calendar year of 

14 the award year for which such determination is 

15 made, in order to reflect more accurately the fi16 nancial condition of such affected individual 

17 and his or her family; 

18 (D) the calculation under section 

19 484B(b)(2) of the Act (20 U.S.C. 1091b(b)(2)) 

20 of the amount a student is required to return 

21 in the case of an affected individual may be 

22 modified so that no overpayment will be re23 quired to be returned or repaid if the institution 

24 has documented (i) the student’s status as an 
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1 affected individual in the student’s file, and (ii) 

2 the amount of any overpayment discharged; and 

3 (E) institutions of higher education, eligi4 ble lenders, guaranty agencies, and other enti5 ties participating in the student assistance pro6 grams under title IV of the Act that are located 

7 in areas that are declared disaster areas by any 

8 Federal, State or local official in connection 

9 with a national emergency, or whose operations 

10 are significantly affected by such a disaster, 

11 may be granted temporary relief from require12 ments that are rendered infeasible or unreason13 able by a national emergency, including due 

14 diligence requirements and reporting deadlines. 

15 (b) NOTICE OF WAIVERS OR MODIFICATIONS.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 437 

17 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 

18 1232) and section 553 of title 5, United States 

19 Code, the Secretary shall, by notice in the Federal 

20 Register, publish the waivers or modifications of 

21 statutory and regulatory provisions the Secretary 

22 deems necessary to achieve the purposes of this sec23 tion. 

24 (2) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—The notice 

25 under paragraph (1) shall include the terms and
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1 conditions to be applied in lieu of such statutory and 

2 regulatory provisions. 

3 (3) CASE-BY-CASE BASIS.—The Secretary is not 

4 required to exercise the waiver or modification au5 thority under this section on a case-by-case basis. 

6 (c) IMPACT REPORT.—The Secretary shall, not later 

7 than 15 months after first exercising any authority to 

8 issue a waiver or modification under subsection (a), report 

9 to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the 

10 House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, 

11 Education, Labor and Pensions of the Senate on the im12 pact of any waivers or modifications issued pursuant to 

13 subsection (a) on affected individuals and the programs 

14 under title IV of the Act, and the basis for such deter15 mination, and include in such report the Secretary’s rec16 ommendations for changes to the statutory or regulatory 

17 provisions that were the subject of such waiver or modi18 fication. 

19 (d) NO DELAY IN WAIVERS AND MODIFICATIONS.—

20 Sections 482(c) and 492 of the Higher Education Act of 

21 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1089(c), 1098a) shall not apply to the 

22 waivers and modifications authorized or required by this 

23 Act. 
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1 SEC. 3. TUITION REFUNDS OR CREDITS FOR MEMBERS OF 

2 ARMED FORCES. 

3 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that— 

5 (1) all institutions offering postsecondary edu6 cation should provide a full refund to students who 

7 are affected individuals for that portion of a period 

8 of instruction such student was unable to complete, 

9 or for which such individual did not receive academic 

10 credit, because he or she was called up for active 

11 duty or active service; and 

12 (2) if affected individuals withdraw from a 

13 course of study as a result of such active duty or ac14 tive service, such institutions should make every ef15 fort to minimize deferral of enrollment or reapplica16 tion requirements and should provide the greatest 

17 flexibility possible with administrative deadlines re18 lated to those applications. 

19 (b) DEFINITION OF FULL REFUND.—For purposes 

20 of this section, a full refund includes a refund of required 

21 tuition and fees, or a credit in a comparable amount 

22 against future tuition and fees. 

23 SEC. 4. USE OF PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT. 

24 A financial aid administrator shall be considered to 

25 be making a necessary adjustment in accordance with sec26 tion 479A(a) of the Act if the administrator makes adjust-
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1 ments with respect to the calculation of the expected stu2 dent or parent contribution (or both) of an affected indi3 vidual, and adequately documents the need for the adjust4 ment. 

5 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) ACTIVE DUTY.—The term ‘‘active duty’’ has 

8 the meaning given such term in section 101(d)(1) of 

9 title 10, United States Code, except that such term 

10 does not include active duty for training or attend11 ance at a service school. 

12 (2) AFFECTED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘af13 fected individual’’ means an individual who—

14 (A) is serving on active duty during a war 

15 or other military operation or national emer16 gency; 

17 (B) is performing qualifying National 

18 Guard duty during a war or other military op19 eration or national emergency; 

20 (C) resides or is employed in an area that 

21 is declared a disaster area by any Federal, 

22 State, or local official in connection with a na23 tional emergency; or 

24 (D) suffered direct economic hardship as a 

25 direct result of a war or other military oper-
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1 ation or national emergency, as determined by 

2 the Secretary. 

3 (3) MILITARY OPERATION.—The term ‘‘military 

4 operation’’ means a contingency operation as such 

5 term is defined in section 101(a)(13) of title 10, 

6 United States Code. 

7 (4) NATIONAL EMERGENCY.—The term ‘‘na8 tional emergency’’ means a national emergency de9 clared by the President of the United States. 

10 (5) SERVING ON ACTIVE DUTY.—The term 

11 ‘‘serving on active duty during a war or other mili12 tary operation or national emergency’’ shall include 

13 service by an individual who is—

14 (A) a Reserve of an Armed Force ordered 

15 to active duty under section 12301(a), 

16 12301(g), 12302, 12304, or 12306 of title 10, 

17 United States Code, or any retired member of 

18 an Armed Force ordered to active duty under 

19 section 688 of such title, for service in connec20 tion with a war or other military operation or 

21 national emergency, regardless of the location 

22 at which such active duty service is performed; 

23 and 

24 (B) any other member of an Armed Force 

25 on active duty in connection with such war, op-
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1 eration, or emergency or subsequent actions or 

2 conditions who has been assigned to a duty sta3 tion at a location other than the location at 

4 which such member is normally assigned. 

5 (6) QUALIFYING NATIONAL GUARD DUTY.—The 

6 term ‘‘qualifying National Guard duty during a war 

7 or other military operation or national emergency’’ 

8 means service as a member of the National Guard 

9 on full-time National Guard duty (as defined in sec10 tion 101(d)(5) of title 10, United States Code) 

11 under a call to active service authorized by the 

12 President or the Secretary of Defense for a period 

13 of more than 30 consecutive days under section 

14 502(f) of title 32, United States Code, in connection 

15 with a war, another military operation, or a national 

16 emergency declared by the President and supported 

17 by Federal funds. 

18 SEC. 6. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY. 

19 The provisions of this Act shall cease to be effective 

20 at the close of September 30, 2005.

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