I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2913

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 regarding distance education, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2003

Mr. ANDREWS (for himself and Mr. KILDEE) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 regarding 

distance education, and for other purposes.

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. 

4 This Act may be cited as ‘‘Distance Education and 

5 Online Learning Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STUDENT ELIGIBILITY. 

7 Section 484(l)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 

8 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1091(l)(1)) is amended—

9 (1) in subparagraph (A)—
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1 (A) by striking ‘‘in whole or in part’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘predominantly’’; 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘of 1 year or longer’’; and 

4 (C) by striking ‘‘unless’’ and all that fol5 lows through ‘‘all courses at the institution’’; 

6 and 

7 (2) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as 

8 follows: 

9 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—An institution of 

10 higher education referred to in subparagraph 

11 (A) is an institution of higher education that is 

12 not an institution or school described in section 

13 3(3)(C) of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and 

14 Technical Education Act of 1998.’’. 

15 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE PROGRAM. 

16 Section 481(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

17 (20 U.S.C. 1088(b)) is amended by adding at the end the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘(3) DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS.—

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A program that is of21 fered predominantly through distance education 

22 methods and processes (other than correspond23 ence courses) is an eligible program for pur24 poses of this title if—
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1 ‘‘(i) the program was reviewed and 

2 approved by an accrediting agency or asso3 ciation that—

4 ‘‘(I) is recognized by the Sec5 retary under subpart 2 of part H; and 

6 ‘‘(II) has evaluation of distance 

7 education programs within the scope 

8 of its recognition; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) the institution offering the pro10 gram complies with clause (i) or clause (ii) 

11 of subparagraph (B). 

12 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL CRITERIA BASED ON DU13 RATION OF CERTIFICATION.—

14 ‘‘(i) CERTIFIED FOR AT LEAST 4

15 YEARS.—An institution complies with this 

16 clause if the institution has been certified 

17 as eligible to participate in programs under 

18 this title for at least four years and—

19 ‘‘(I) has not had its participation 

20 in programs under this title limited, 

21 suspended, or terminated within the 

22 preceding 5 years; 

23 ‘‘(II) has not had or failed to re24 solve an audit finding or program re25 view finding under this Act during the 
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1 preceding 2 years that resulted in the 

2 institution being required to repay an 

3 amount that is greater than 5 percent 

4 of the total funds the institution re5 ceived under the programs authorized 

6 by this title for any award year cov7 ered by the audit or program review; 

8 ‘‘(III) has not been found by the 

9 Secretary during the preceding 5 

10 years to be in material noncompliance 

11 with the provisions of this Act related 

12 to the submission of acceptable and 

13 timely audit reports required under 

14 this title; and 

15 ‘‘(IV) is determined to be finan16 cially responsible under regulations 

17 promulgated by the Secretary pursu18 ant to section 498(c). 

19 ‘‘(ii) CERTIFIED FOR LESS THAN 4

20 YEARS.—An institution complies with this 

21 clause if the institution has been certified 

22 as eligible to participate in programs under 

23 this title for less than four years, meets 

24 the requirements of clause (i), and—
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1 ‘‘(I) the institution has not been 

2 subject to any action to suspend, re3 voke, withdraw, or terminate its au4 thority to operate by a state; 

5 ‘‘(II) the institution has not been 

6 subject to any action to suspend, re7 voke, withdraw, or terminate its ac8 creditation and has not been placed 

9 on probation or an equivalent status 

10 by a recognized accrediting agency; 

11 ‘‘(III) neither the institution nor 

12 any person who exercises substantial 

13 control over the institution have been 

14 administratively or judicially deter15 mined to have committed fraud or any 

16 other material violation of law involv17 ing the use of federal, state or local 

18 government funds; and 

19 ‘‘(IV) no person who exercises 

20 substantial control over the institution 

21 has been directly or indirectly affili22 ated with an institution that has lost 

23 or been denied accreditation, has lost 

24 or been denied authority to operate by 

25 a state, has lost or been denied eligi-
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1 bility to participate in programs au2 thorized under this title, has filed for 

3 bankruptcy, or has closed owing a li4 ability for a program requirement 

5 under this Act. 

6 ‘‘(C) CONSEQUENCES OF WITHDRAWL OF

7 APPROVAL.—If the accreditation agency or as8 sociation withdraws approval of the program 

9 described in subparagraph (A)(i), or the institu10 tion fails to meet any of the requirements de11 scribed in clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (B) 

12 (whichever is applicable), or both, then the pro13 gram shall cease to be an eligible program at 

14 the end of the award year in which such with15 drawal of approval or failure to meet such re16 quirements occurs. The program shall not be an 

17 eligible program for any subsequent award year 

18 until the institution obtains such approval or 

19 corrects such failure, or both.’’. 

20 SEC. 4. RECOGNITION OF ACCREDITING AGENCY OR ASSO21 CIATION. 

22 Section 496 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

23 U.S.C. 1099b) is amended—

24 (1) in subsection (n)(3), by striking the last 

25 sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘If the agency 
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1 or association requests that the evaluation of institu2 tions offering distance education programs be in3 cluded within its scope of recognition, and dem4 onstrates that the agency or association meets the 

5 requirements of subsection (p), then the Secretary 

6 shall include the accreditation of institutions offering 

7 distance education programs within the agency’s or 

8 association’s scope of recognition.’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(p) DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS.—An agency 

11 or association that seeks to evaluate the quality of institu12 tions offering distance education programs within its scope 

13 of recognition shall, in addition to meeting the other re14 quirements of this subpart, demonstrate to the Secretary 

15 that the agency or association assesses—

16 ‘‘(1) measures of student achievement of stu17 dents enrolled in distance education programs, in18 cluding State licensing examination results, and suc19 cess in preparing students for entry into and ad20 vancement in the work force; 

21 ‘‘(2) measures of program completion and re22 tention rates of students in distance education pro23 grams, including monitoring such rates throughout 

24 the accreditation period; 
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1 ‘‘(3) the preparation of faculty and students to 

2 participate in distance education programs; 

3 ‘‘(4) the quality and frequency of interaction 

4 between faculty and students in distance education 

5 programs; 

6 ‘‘(5) the availability of current and recognized 

7 learning resources and support services for students 

8 in distance education programs; and 

9 ‘‘(6) measures to ensure the integrity of student 

10 and faculty participation in distance education pro11 grams.’’.

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