I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8612 

To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a personal finance education 

portal on a centralized website of the Department of Education pertaining to Federal financial aid. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2024 

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a personal 

finance education portal on a centralized website of the 

Department of Education pertaining to Federal financial 

aid. 

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 the ‘‘Financial Fitness 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Nearly 45,300,000 people owe an average of 

2 $37,338 in Federal student loans, and student loan 

3 debt in the United States totals 

4 $1,765,000,000,000. The average student loan debt 

5 has tripled since 2007. 

6 (2) Student debt has significant racial equity 

7 implications. Approximately half of Black college 

8 students are using Federal student loans to cover 

9 educational costs, and Black college graduates are 

10 still substantially more likely than white college 

11 graduates to default on their debt within 4 years of 

12 graduation. In addition, the default rate for Black 

13 borrowers is substantially higher than white bor14 rowers (17 percent versus 9 percent). Students who 

15 are veterans, parents, first-generation college stu16 dents, or low income are also likely to face higher 

17 risk of default. 

18 (3) As of 2022, 18 percent of Hispanic and 

19 Latino college graduates who had taken out loans 

20 for tuition and school expenses were behind on their 

21 payments, in contrast with 9 percent of white stu22 dent borrowers. Hispanic and Latino borrowers also 

23 were the most likely to delay getting married and 

24 having children due to student loan debt. 


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1 (4) Native American financial status remains 

2 among the lowest of all minority populations in the 

3 Nation. Native people are the least likely of all popu4 lation groups, including other minorities, to plan for 

5 retirement, have an emergency fund, or have a 

6 checking account. 

7 (5) Among college graduates with any out8 standing debt for their education, first-generation 

9 college graduates tend to owe more. 

10 (6) Student debt among older adults has stead11 ily increased, with many individuals taking on debt 

12 to finance higher education for their children and 

13 grandchildren. 

14 (7) Despite the fact that many students and 

15 families must make substantial and highly con16 sequential decisions about student loan borrowing 

17 and face growing college affordability challenges, 

18 only 17 States make personal finance a required 

19 part of basic education. 

20 (8) Of non-retired American adults, 42 percent 

21 age 18–29 have no retirement savings; 26 percent of 

22 those age 30–44; 17 percent of those age 45–59; 

23 and 13 percent of those over age 60. 

24 (9) People with self-directed retirement savings 

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1 sions about how the money is invested. Six in 10 

2 non-retirees with these self-directed accounts express 

3 low levels of comfort in making investment decisions 

4 with their retirement savings. 

5 (10) The COVID–19 pandemic exacerbated the 

6 need to provide families with better tools to weather 

7 financial challenges, with a rapid spike in unemploy8 ment occurring in mid-2020, along with significant 

9 shifts to individuals’ housing and transportation 

10 needs. 

11 (11) Nearly 1 in 10 student loan borrowers end 

12 up in default, and even more struggle to repay their 

13 loans, indicating an important need to ensure bor14 rowers can access information to help them navigate 

15 repayment and succeed financially. 

16 SEC. 3. PERSONAL FINANCE EDUCATION PORTAL. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 

18 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education, 

19 in consultation with the Director of the Bureau of Con20 sumer Financial Protection, the Secretary of the Treasury 

21 as chair of the Financial Literacy and Education Commis22 sion, and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, shall es23 tablish a personal finance education portal on a central24 ized and publicly available website of the Department of 

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1 untary use by recipients of aid awarded under title IV of 

2 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et 

3 seq.). 

4 (b) CONTENT OF PERSONAL FINANCE EDUCATION

5 PORTAL.—The personal finance education portal estab6 lished under subsection (a) shall include information on 

7 personal finance concepts, including the following: 

8 (1) Core personal finance concepts, such as 

9 earning, saving, investing, spending, and borrowing, 

10 including— 

11 (A) the concept of compound growth as it 

12 applies to savings and retirement savings, with 

13 information about the different types of retire14 ment savings accounts; and 

15 (B) budgeting and credit usage. 

16 (2) Managing student loan repayment, includ17 ing— 

18 (A) the interaction between savings and re19 tirement decisions and Federal student loan re20 payment plans; 

21 (B) Federal student loan discharge or for22 giveness options; 

23 (C) the types of voluntary benefits employ24 ers may use to help workers while they are pay25 ing down student loan debt; 


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1 (D) tax credits or deductions that are rel2 evant to student loan borrowers in repayment; 

3 (E) how to interpret loan terms and condi4 tions; 

5 (F) how to distinguish between federal stu6 dent loans and private student loans and their 

7 benefits; and 

8 (G) any other Federal policies that signifi9 cantly impact student loan borrowers in repay10 ment, as determined by the Secretary of Edu11 cation. 

12 (3) Any other personal finance concepts deter13 mined relevant by the Secretary of Education, in 

14 consultation with the Director of the Bureau of Con15 sumer Financial Protection, the Secretary of the 

16 Treasury as chair of the Financial Literacy and 

17 Education Commission, and the Commissioner of In18 ternal Revenue. 

19 (c) PROVISION OF CONTENT.—The personal finance 

20 content included under subsection (b) may be provided in 

21 an interactive format through text or video. 

22 (d) ANALYTICS.—The Secretary of Education, in con23 sultation with the Director of the Bureau of Consumer 

24 Financial Protection, the Secretary of the Treasury as 

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1 sion, and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, shall re2 view not less than once every three years the utilization 

3 of the portal established under subsection (a) and make 

4 such findings publicly available. 

5 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 

7 $5,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2024 through 

8 2027. 

Æ 


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