H. R. 4057 

One Hundred Twelfth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twelve 

An Act 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

to develop a comprehensive policy to improve outreach and transparency to veterans and members of the Armed Forces through the provision of information 

on institutions of higher learning, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. COMPREHENSIVE POLICY ON PROVIDING EDUCATION 

INFORMATION TO VETERANS. 

(a) COMPREHENSIVE POLICY REQUIRED.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 36 of title 38, United States 

Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 

section: 

‘‘§ 3698. Comprehensive policy on providing education 

information to veterans 

‘‘(a) COMPREHENSIVE POLICY REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall 

develop a comprehensive policy to improve outreach and transparency to veterans and members of the Armed Forces through 

the provision of information on institutions of higher learning. 

‘‘(b) SCOPE.—In developing the policy required by subsection 

(a), the Secretary shall include each of the following elements: 

‘‘(1) Effective and efficient methods to inform individuals 

of the educational and vocational counseling provided under 

section 3697A of this title. 

‘‘(2) A centralized mechanism for tracking and publishing 

feedback from students and State approving agencies regarding 

the quality of instruction, recruiting practices, and post-graduation employment placement of institutions of higher learning 

that— 

‘‘(A) allows institutions of higher learning to verify 

feedback and address issues regarding feedback before the 

feedback is published; 

‘‘(B) protects the privacy of students, including by not 

publishing the names of students; and 

‘‘(C) publishes only feedback that conforms with criteria 

for relevancy that the Secretary shall determine. 

‘‘(3) The merit of and the manner in which a State 

approving agency shares with an accrediting agency or association recognized by the Secretary of Education under subpart 

2 of part H of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

(20 U.S.C. 1099b) information regarding the State approving 

agency’s evaluation of an institution of higher learning. 
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‘‘(4) Description of the information provided to individuals 

participating in the Transition Assistance Program under section 1144 of title 10 relating to institutions of higher learning. 

‘‘(5) Effective and efficient methods to provide veterans 

and members of the Armed Forces with information regarding 

postsecondary education and training opportunities available 

to the veteran or member. 

‘‘(c) POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION INFORMATION.—(1) The Secretary shall ensure that the information provided pursuant to subsection (b)(5) includes— 

‘‘(A) an explanation of the different types of accreditation 

available to educational institutions and programs of education; 

‘‘(B) a description of Federal student aid programs; and 

‘‘(C) for each institution of higher learning, for the most 

recent academic year for which information is available— 

‘‘(i) whether the institution is public, private nonprofit, 

or proprietary for-profit; 

‘‘(ii) the name of the national or regional accrediting 

agency that accredits the institution, including the contact 

information used by the agency to receive complaints from 

students; 

‘‘(iii) information on the State approving agency, 

including the contact information used by the agency to 

receive complaints from students; 

‘‘(iv) whether the institution participates in any programs under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

(20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.); 

‘‘(v) the tuition and fees; 

‘‘(vi) the median amount of debt from Federal student 

loans under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

(20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.) held by individuals upon completion 

of programs of education at the institution of higher 

learning (as determined from information collected by the 

Secretary of Education); 

‘‘(vii) the cohort default rate, as defined in section 

435(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

1085(m)), of the institution; 

‘‘(viii) the total enrollment, graduation rate, and retention rate, as determined from information collected by the 

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System of the 

Secretary of Education; 

‘‘(ix) whether the institution provides students with 

technical support, academic support, and other support 

services, including career counseling and job placement; 

and 

‘‘(x) the information regarding the institution’s policies 

related to transfer of credit from other institutions, as 

required under section 485(h)(1) of the Higher Education 

Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(h)(1)) and provided to the 

Secretary of Education under section 132(i)(1)(V)(iv) of such 

Act (20 U.S.C. 1015a(i)(1)(V)(iv)). 

‘‘(2) To the extent practicable, the Secretary shall provide the 

information described in paragraph (1) by including hyperlinks 

on the Internet website of the Department to other Internet 

websites that contain such information, including the Internet 
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website of the Department of Education, in a form that is comprehensive and easily understood by veterans, members of the 

Armed Forces, and other individuals. 

‘‘(3)(A) If the Secretary of Veterans Affairs requires, for purposes of providing information pursuant to subsection (b)(5), 

information that has been reported, or information that is similar 

to information that has been reported, by an institution of higher 

learning to the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Defense, 

the Secretary of Labor, or the heads of other Federal agencies 

under a provision of law other than under this section, the Secretary 

of Veterans Affairs shall obtain the information the Secretary of 

Veterans Affairs requires from the Secretary or head with the 

information rather than the institution of higher learning. 

‘‘(B) If the Secretary of Veterans Affairs requires, for purposes 

of providing information pursuant to subsection (b)(5), information 

from an institution of higher learning that has not been reported 

to another Federal agency, the Secretary shall, to the degree practicable, obtain such information through the Secretary of Education. 

‘‘(d) CONSISTENCY WITH EXISTING EDUCATION POLICY.—In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall ensure that— 

‘‘(1) the comprehensive policy is consistent with any 

requirements and initiatives resulting from Executive Order 

No. 13607; and 

‘‘(2) the efforts of the Secretary to implement the comprehensive policy do not duplicate the efforts being taken by 

any Federal agencies. 

‘‘(e) COMMUNICATION WITH INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER

LEARNING.—To the extent practicable, if the Secretary considers 

it necessary to communicate with an institution of higher learning 

to carry out the comprehensive policy required by subsection (a), 

the Secretary shall carry out such communication through the 

use of a communication system of the Department of Education. 

‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

‘‘(1) The term ‘institution of higher learning’ has the 

meaning given that term in section 3452(f) of this title. 

‘‘(2) The term ‘postsecondary education and training 

opportunities’ means any postsecondary program of education, 

including apprenticeships and on-job training, for which the 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs provides assistance to a veteran 

or member of the Armed Forces.’’. 

(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections at the 

beginning of such chapter is amended by adding after the 

item relating to section 3697A the following new item: 

‘‘3698. Comprehensive policy on providing education information to veterans.’’. 

(b) SURVEY.—In developing the policy required by section 

3698(a) of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection 

(a), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall conduct a market survey 

to determine the availability of the following: 

(1) A commercially available off-the-shelf online tool that 

allows a veteran or member of the Armed Forces to assess 

whether the veteran or member is academically ready to engage 

in postsecondary education and training opportunities and 

whether the veteran or member would need any remedial 

preparation before beginning such opportunities. 

(2) A commercially available off-the-shelf online tool that 

provides a veteran or member of the Armed Forces with a 
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list of providers of postsecondary education and training 

opportunities based on criteria selected by the veteran or 

member. 

(c) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the 

enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit 

to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that includes— 

(1) a description of the policy developed by the Secretary 

under section 3698(a) of title 38, United States Code, as added 

by subsection (a); 

(2) a plan of the Secretary to implement such policy; and 

(3) the results of the survey conducted under subsection 

(b), including whether the Secretary plans to implement the 

tools described in such subsection. 

(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

(1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS.—The term 

‘‘appropriate committees of Congress’’ means— 

(A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the 

Senate; and 

(B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of 

Representatives. 

(2) COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE OFF-THE-SHELF.—The term 

‘‘commercially available off-the-shelf’’ has the meaning given 

that term in section 104 of title 41, United States Code. 

(3) POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION AND TRAINING OPPORTUNI- TIES.—The term ‘‘postsecondary education and training 

opportunities’’ means any postsecondary program of education, 

including apprenticeships and on-job training, for which the 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs provides assistance to a veteran 

or member of the Armed Forces. 

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN USES OF INDUCEMENTS BY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 

Section 3696 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 

adding at the end the following new subsection: 

‘‘(d)(1) The Secretary shall not approve under this chapter 

any course offered by an educational institution if the educational 

institution provides any commission, bonus, or other incentive payment based directly or indirectly on success in securing enrollments 

or financial aid to any persons or entities engaged in any student 

recruiting or admission activities or in making decisions regarding 

the award of student financial assistance. 

‘‘(2) To the degree practicable, the Secretary shall carry out 

paragraph (1) in a manner that is consistent with the Secretary 

of Education’s enforcement of section 487(a)(20) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(20)).’’. 

SEC. 3. DEDICATED POINTS OF CONTACT FOR SCHOOL CERTIFYING 

OFFICIALS. 

Section 3684 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 

adding at the end the following new subsection: 

‘‘(d) Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 

of this subsection, the Secretary shall ensure that the Department 

provides personnel of educational institutions who are charged with 

submitting reports or certifications to the Secretary under this 

section with assistance in preparing and submitting such reports 

or certifications.’’. 
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SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON AWARDS AND BONUSES TO EMPLOYEES OF 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

For fiscal year 2013, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may 

not pay more than $395,000,000 in awards or bonuses under chapter 

45 or 53 of title 5, United States Code, or any other awards 

or bonuses authorized under such title. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.