II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1195 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to update reporting requirements for institutions of higher education and provide for more accurate 

and complete data on student retention, graduation, and earnings outcomes at all levels of postsecondary enrollment. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 5, 2015 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. WARNER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to update 

reporting requirements for institutions of higher education and provide for more accurate and complete data 

on student retention, graduation, and earnings outcomes 

at all levels of postsecondary enrollment. 

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 ‘‘Student Right to Know 

5 Before You Go Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREE2 MENTS. 

3 Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 

4 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(17)) is amended by inserting 

5 ‘‘and including the requirements of section 493E’’ after 

6 ‘‘as designated by the Secretary’’. 

7 SEC. 3. INSTITUTIONAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE IN8 FORMATION FOR STUDENTS. 

9 Section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

10 U.S.C. 1092) is amended by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(n) ALIGNMENT WITH INSTITUTIONAL REPORTING

13 REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO IPEDS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

15 after the date of enactment of the Student Right to 

16 Know Before You Go Act of 2015, the Secretary 

17 shall issue guidance outlining which data metrics re18 quired to be submitted by institutions of higher edu19 cation under section 493E are duplicative of institu20 tional reporting requirements under this section and 

21 other provisions of this Act. 

22 ‘‘(2) LINK TO INSTITUTIONAL REPORTING

23 WEBSITE.—Not later than 5 years after the date of 

24 enactment of the Student Right to Know Before You 

25 Go Act of 2015, an institution of higher education 

26 participating in any program under this title shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) not be required to make available 

2 such duplicative requirements, as determined 

3 under paragraph (1), under this section and 

4 other provisions of this Act; and 

5 ‘‘(B) provide a prominently displayed link 

6 on the institution’s website to the website de7 scribed in section 493E(e)(2).’’. 

8 SEC. 4. INSTITUTIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

9 (a) AMENDMENT TO DATABASE OF STUDENT INFOR10 MATION PROHIBITED.—Section 134(b) of the Higher 

11 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1015c(b)) is amend12 ed— 

13 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

14 the semicolon; 

15 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 

16 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

17 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(3) is necessary to carry out section 493E.’’. 

19 (b) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Part G of title IV 

20 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1088 

21 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 493E. INSTITUTIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

24 ‘‘(1) SUBMISSION OF DATA.—Each institution 

25 of higher education participating in a program under 


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1 this title shall submit to the Secretary data suffi2 cient, as determined by the Secretary, to complete 

3 all student components of reporting required for the 

4 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System 

5 (referred to in this section as ‘IPEDS’). 

6 ‘‘(2) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 1 year after 

7 the date of enactment of the Student Right to Know 

8 Before You Go Act of 2015, the Secretary shall sub9 mit to institutions of higher education guidance re10 lated to the submission of data under this sub11 section. 

12 ‘‘(3) REVIEW.—The Secretary shall review, 

13 every 5 years, the determination of the categories of 

14 data that shall be submitted pursuant to paragraph 

15 (1). 

16 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF ADDITIONAL STUDENT

17 CLASSIFICATIONS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

19 the date of enactment of the Student Right to Know 

20 Before You Go Act of 2015, the Secretary shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) establish common definitions for in22 stitutions to follow in submitting the data re23 quired under this section; and 

24 ‘‘(B) determine collection and submission 

25 requirements. 


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1 ‘‘(2) STUDENT-LEVEL COMPONENTS OF

2 IPEDS.—The Secretary shall require institutions of 

3 higher education participating in a program under 

4 this title to submit student-level components of 

5 IPEDS to enable coding and reporting on— 

6 ‘‘(A) students who participate in remedial 

7 education at, or through, the institution; 

8 ‘‘(B) whether, and at what level, the stu9 dent is seeking a degree; and 

10 ‘‘(C) whether the student is seeking a cer11 tificate. 

12 ‘‘(c) ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW OUTCOME

13 METRICS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Data submitted to the Sec15 retary under subsections (a) and (b) shall be used 

16 to calculate all student-level components of IPEDS. 

17 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL MEASURES TO BE CAL18 CULATED.—In addition to the student-level compo19 nent outcome measures required to be calculated by 

20 the Secretary on the day before the date of enact21 ment of the Student Right to Know Before You Go 

22 Act of 2015, the Secretary shall, beginning not later 

23 than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Stu24 dent Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2015, 


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1 also calculate, at the institutional and program-spe2 cific levels, the following: 

3 ‘‘(A) The percentage of students who re4 ceive— 

5 ‘‘(i) Federal grants; 

6 ‘‘(ii) Federal loans; 

7 ‘‘(iii) State grants; 

8 ‘‘(iv) State loans; 

9 ‘‘(v) institutional grants; or 

10 ‘‘(vi) institutional loans. 

11 ‘‘(B) The average amount of total Federal 

12 loan debt upon student graduation assumed by 

13 students while enrolled at the institution. 

14 ‘‘(C) The average amount of total Federal 

15 loan debt of students who do not complete a 

16 program of study 2 years after the students’ 

17 last known enrollment in any institution of 

18 higher education. 

19 ‘‘(D) Student transfer rates by sector of 

20 transfer, which shall be defined as the percent21 age of students who leave an institution and 

22 successfully enroll in and complete a program of 

23 study at another institution, including whether 

24 the receiving institution is a public 4-year insti25 tution, public 2-year institution, public lessVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:23 May 13, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1195.IS S1195

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1 than-2-year institution, private nonprofit 4-year 

2 institution, private nonprofit 2-year institution, 

3 private nonprofit less-than-2-year institution, 

4 private for-profit 4-year institution, private for5 profit 2-year institution, or private for-profit 

6 less-than-2-year institution. 

7 ‘‘(E) Rates of continuation to higher levels 

8 of education. 

9 ‘‘(F) The percentage of students who re10 ceive the degree level they initially sought. 

11 ‘‘(G) The outcome measures described in 

12 subparagraphs (A) through (F), in addition to 

13 all student-level components of IPEDS required 

14 to be reported on the day before the date of en15 actment of the Student Right to Know Before 

16 You Go Act of 2015, disaggregated on the basis 

17 of the following student types: 

18 ‘‘(i) Students who received a Federal 

19 Pell Grant. 

20 ‘‘(ii) Students who received a loan 

21 under part B or part D, but not a Federal 

22 Pell Grant. 

23 ‘‘(iii) Students who received neither a 

24 Federal Pell Grant, nor a loan under part 

25 B or part D. 


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1 ‘‘(iv) Students who are identified as 

2 veterans or members of the Armed Forces 

3 who received assistance under the Post-9/ 

4 11 Veterans Educational Assistance Pro5 gram under chapter 33 of title 38, United 

6 States Code, or tuition assistance under 

7 the laws administered by the Secretary of 

8 Defense. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

9 and Secretary of the Department of De10 fense shall coordinate with the Secretary to 

11 make available data sufficient to enable 

12 such reporting under this clause. 

13 ‘‘(v) Enrollment status, including the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(I) First-time, full-time stu16 dents. 

17 ‘‘(II) First-time, part-time stu18 dents. 

19 ‘‘(III) Non-first-time, full-time 

20 students. 

21 ‘‘(IV) Non-first-time, part-time 

22 students. 

23 ‘‘(vi) Enrollment intensity while en24 rolled at the institution, including the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(I) Full-time only. 

2 ‘‘(II) Part-time only. 

3 ‘‘(III) Mixed enrollment, both 

4 full- and part-time. 

5 ‘‘(H) Earning metrics, generated through 

6 a system established by the Secretary in co7 operation with the Commissioner of Social Se8 curity and using the student components of 

9 IPEDS, that shall include— 

10 ‘‘(i) median annual earnings and em11 ployment metrics, disaggregated by— 

12 ‘‘(I) educational program based 

13 on CIP code; 

14 ‘‘(II) credential received; 

15 ‘‘(III) educational institution; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(IV) State of employment; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) the disaggregated median annual 

19 earnings for each of the categories de20 scribed in subclauses (I) through (IV) of 

21 clause (i), further disaggregated for each 

22 of the following time periods: 

23 ‘‘(I) 2 years after educational 

24 program completion. 


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1 ‘‘(II) 6 years after educational 

2 program completion. 

3 ‘‘(III) 15 years after educational 

4 program completion. 

5 ‘‘(I) Other information determined nec6 essary by the Secretary. 

7 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this sec8 tion, the Secretary shall consult extensively with 

9 State offices with existing, as of the date of the con10 sultation, student-level data collections from public 

11 and private institutions, particularly in the formula12 tion of the calculation and reporting standards out13 lined in this subsection and subsections (a) and (b), 

14 and the public access to data under subsection 

15 (e)(2). 

16 ‘‘(4) GUIDELINES.—The Secretary shall issue 

17 guidelines to institutions of higher education regard18 ing the amendments needed to the annual privacy 

19 notices required under section 444(c)(3) of the Gen20 eral Education Provisions Act (commonly referred to 

21 as the ‘Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act 

22 of 1974’) of the institutions in order to reference the 

23 data collection required under this section. 

24 ‘‘(d) UNAUTHORIZED USES.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any personally identifiable 

2 information collected for the data system under this 

3 section shall not be used for any use that is not ei4 ther specifically authorized by this section or per5 mitted as a disclosure under this section. 

6 ‘‘(2) NO FEDERAL ACTION.—No action of Fed7 eral authority may be taken against an individual 

8 based on data collected for the data system devel9 oped under this section. No Federal agency, officer, 

10 or employee and no recipient of a Federal grant, 

11 contract, or cooperative agreement may, for any rea12 son, require the Secretary or any employee of the 

13 Secretary to disclose personally identifiable informa14 tion that has been collected or retained under this 

15 section. 

16 ‘‘(3) IMMUNITY.—Personally identifiable infor17 mation collected or retained under this section shall 

18 be immune from legal process and shall not, without 

19 the consent of the individual concerned, be admitted 

20 as evidence or used for any purpose in any action, 

21 suit, or other judicial or administrative proceeding. 

22 ‘‘(4) NO INSTITUTION ACTION.—An institution 

23 of higher education may not use the data system de24 veloped under this section, or data accessed through 


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1 such system, to take any action against an indi2 vidual. 

3 ‘‘(5) APPLICATION.—This subsection shall not 

4 apply to requests for personally identifiable informa5 tion submitted by or on behalf of the individual iden6 tified in the information. Any such individual has 

7 the right to request and receive from the Secretary 

8 the data containing personally identifiable informa9 tion collected on the individual’s behalf, upon dem10 onstrating the individual’s identity to the satisfac11 tion of the Secretary. 

12 ‘‘(e) PERMISSIBLE DISCLOSURES.— 

13 ‘‘(1) DISCLOSURE LIMITATION.—In carrying 

14 out the public reporting and disclosure requirements 

15 of this Act, the Secretary shall use appropriate sta16 tistical disclosure limitation techniques necessary 

17 such that the data released to the public cannot in18 clude personally identifiable information or be used 

19 to identify specific individuals. 

20 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

22 post the aggregate data collected under this 

23 section on a website of the Department in a 

24 timely and user-friendly manner. 


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1 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL RESEARCH AVAIL2 ABILITY.—The Secretary may make available 

3 the non-personally identifiable data set used to 

4 prepare the data for the website in accordance 

5 with subparagraph (A) to researchers per6 forming studies or evaluations approved by the 

7 Secretary or the Director of the Institute of 

8 Education Sciences. 

9 ‘‘(C) ENABLING ADMINISTRATIVE IM10 PROVEMENT BY INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDU11 CATION.—The Secretary shall create a process 

12 through which institutions of higher education 

13 participating in programs under this title and 

14 States may request and receive from the De15 partment aggregate student outcome data for 

16 the purposes of institutional improvement and 

17 program evaluation. The Secretary shall pro18 mulgate regulations to ensure fair and equitable 

19 access to such data. 

20 ‘‘(3) NO SALE OF DATA.—The Secretary shall 

21 not sell any data collected under this section, includ22 ing the public use data set available under para23 graph (2)(B), to any third party. 

24 ‘‘(f) ENSURING COMPARABILITY OF DATA METRIC.— 

25 For a period of 5 years following the date of enactment 


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1 of the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2015, 

2 the Secretary shall be responsible for publishing all stu3 dent-level components of IPEDS as such components 

4 would have been produced on the day before the date of 

5 enactment of the Student Right to Know Before You Go 

6 Act of 2015. 

7 ‘‘(g) FELONY FOR WILLFUL DISCLOSURE.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 

9 person who obtains or has access to personally iden10 tifiable information in connection with the data sys11 tem described in this section to willfully disclose 

12 such personally identifiable information, in any man13 ner, to any person that is not entitled to receive the 

14 information. 

15 ‘‘(2) PENALTY.—Any person who violates para16 graph (1) shall be found guilty of a felony and im17 prisoned for not more than 5 years, or fined as spec18 ified in section 3571 of title 18, United States Code, 

19 or both. 

20 ‘‘(h) PROTECTION OF DATA.—The Secretary shall 

21 promulgate and periodically review guidance and regula22 tions relating to security, which shall govern the access, 

23 use, and disclosure of data collected in connection with 

24 the activities authorized in this Act. The regulations devel25 oped and reviewed shall be consistent with the need to proVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:23 May 13, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1195.IS S1195

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1 tect data from unauthorized access, use, and disclosure, 

2 and shall include— 

3 ‘‘(1) an audit capability; 

4 ‘‘(2) access controls; and 

5 ‘‘(3) requirements to ensure sufficient data se6 curity, quality, validity, and reliability. 

7 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE IN8 FORMATION.—In this section, the term ‘personally identi9 fiable information’ includes— 

10 ‘‘(1) a student’s name; 

11 ‘‘(2) the name of a student’s parent or other 

12 family members; 

13 ‘‘(3) the address of a student or student’s fam14 ily; 

15 ‘‘(4) a personal identifier, such as a student’s 

16 social security number, student number, or biometric 

17 record; 

18 ‘‘(5) other indirect identifiers, such as a stu19 dent’s date of birth, place of birth, and mother’s 

20 maiden name; 

21 ‘‘(6) other information that, alone or in com22 bination, is linked or linkable to a specific student 

23 that would allow a reasonable person in the school 

24 community, who does not have personal knowledge 


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1 of the relevant circumstances, to identify the student 

2 with reasonable certainty; or 

3 ‘‘(7) information requested by a person who the 

4 educational agency or institution reasonably believes 

5 knows the identity of the student to whom the edu6 cation record relates. 

7 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

9 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 

10 2016 through 2024.’’. 

Æ 


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