I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2815 

To require the Secretary of Education to complete a data analysis study 

on the impacts of all income- or employment-based outcome measures 

of quality in higher education before issuing or implementing regulations 

utilizing such metrics, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 17, 2015 

Mr. SALMON (for himself, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Mr. ROKITA, and Ms. SINEMA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Education to complete a data 

analysis study on the impacts of all income- or employment-based outcome measures of quality in higher education before issuing or implementing regulations utilizing such metrics, 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 the ‘‘Assuring Quality Out5 comes in Higher Education Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DATA ANALYSIS REQUIREMENT FOR USE OF 

2 INCOME- OR EMPLOYMENT-BASED METRICS 

3 FOR MEASURING QUALITY IN HIGHER EDU4 CATION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—During the period specified in 

6 subsection (c), the Secretary of Education shall not issue 

7 or otherwise implement any final rule with respect to any 

8 proposed regulation or other performance framework that 

9 utilizes any income- or employment-based metric or data, 

10 including any such regulation or framework relating to 

11 college ratings, teacher preparation, or gainful employ12 ment, or implement or enforce any existing regulation or 

13 performance framework that utilizes any such metric, 

14 until 90 days after— 

15 (1) the Secretary of Education conducts and 

16 makes publicly available a complete data analysis re17 quired under subsection (b) with respect to such reg18 ulation or performance framework; and 

19 (2) the Comptroller General of the United 

20 States makes publicly available a report that reviews 

21 such data analysis for data accuracy and complete22 ness. 

23 (b) DATA ANALYSIS.—The data analysis required 

24 under this subsection with respect to a regulation or per25 formance framework shall— 


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1 (1) analyze the impact of the income- or em2 ployment-based outcome metrics utilized under the 

3 regulation or performance framework (including any 

4 substantial employment thresholds and measures of 

5 short-term earnings, long-term earnings, and debt6 to-earnings) on all postsecondary education pro7 grams and students at all categories of institutions 

8 of higher education that participate in a program 

9 under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

10 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.), including— 

11 (A) the impact on, and educational alter12 natives for, students who— 

13 (i) receive Federal Pell Grants under 

14 subpart 1 of part A of title IV of the High15 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

16 1070a et seq.); 

17 (ii) are minority students; 

18 (iii) are older than age 24; 

19 (iv) are veterans; 

20 (v) are independent students; and 

21 (vi) are dependent students; 

22 (B) for each of the impacted student 

23 groups described in subparagraph (A), the ex24 tent to which students impacted by the incomeVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:20 Jun 19, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2815.IH H2815

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1 or employment-based outcome metric would 

2 abandon pursuit of any educational alternative; 

3 (C) the impact on, and educational alter4 natives for, students who will be displaced from 

5 their postsecondary education program as a re6 sult of the proposed use of the income- or em7 ployment-based outcome metric, including— 

8 (i) the ability of educational alter9 natives to add capacity to absorb addi10 tional displaced students; 

11 (ii) the required additional Federal 

12 and State subsidies required to provide 

13 such additional capacity; and 

14 (iii) the number of displaced students 

15 who would abandon pursuit of any edu16 cational alternative; and 

17 (D) the impact on economic sectors— 

18 (i) with known elements of public or 

19 government service, such as social work 

20 and Federal, State, and local public or gov21 ernment service; and 

22 (ii) with projected workforce skills 

23 gaps, such as manufacturing, healthcare, 

24 and education; 


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1 (2) analyze the degree of correlation between 

2 variables other than quality of education that could 

3 affect income and debt-to-income or employment 

4 outcomes, including— 

5 (A) regional and urban differences; 

6 (B) economic conditions at time of gradua7 tion; 

8 (C) patterns of discrimination (including 

9 those based on gender and race); 

10 (D) family income prior to enrollment; and 

11 (E) credential pursued or program of 

12 study; and 

13 (3) compare the various sources of income and 

14 debt data utilized under the regulation or perform15 ance framework, highlighting the differences between 

16 data sets, the availability of the data, the quality 

17 and completeness of the data, the student privacy 

18 issues with the use of data, and the data collection 

19 burden on the relevant institutions. 

20 (c) PERIOD OF PROHIBITION.—The period specified 

21 in this subsection is the period beginning on the date of 

22 the enactment of this Act and ending on the date of the 

23 enactment of a law that extends the authorization or dura24 tion of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 

25 et seq.) by not less than 2 fiscal years beyond the authorVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:20 Jun 19, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2815.IH H2815

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1 ization or duration of such Act in effect on such date of 

2 enactment. 

3 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) INDEPENDENT STUDENT.—The term ‘‘inde5 pendent student’’ has the meaning given the term in 

6 section 480(d) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

7 (20 U.S.C. 1087vv(d)). 

8 (2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

9 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

10 meaning given the term in section 102 of the Higher 

11 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002), except 

12 that the term does not include institutions described 

13 in subparagraph (C) of section 102(a)(1) of such 

14 Act. 

15 (3) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the 

16 meaning given the term in section 480(c) of the 

17 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

18 1087vv(c)). 

19 (4) EDUCATIONAL ALTERNATIVE.—The term 

20 ‘‘educational alternative’’ means a comparable or 

21 similar program of study offered at the same institu22 tion that a student attends or at another institution 

23 of higher education, which has the meaning of the 

24 term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 

25 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002), except that the term does 


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1 not include any institution described in subpara2 graph (C) of section 102(a)(1) of the Higher Edu3 cation Act of 1965. 

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