II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2301 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide capacity-building 

assistance to institutions of higher education to examine and address 

inequities in college student access and success, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 24, 2021 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) 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 provide 

capacity-building assistance to institutions of higher education to examine and address inequities in college student access and success, 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 ‘‘College Equity Act 

5 of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that institutions of higher 

8 education should examine institutional policies related to 


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1 admissions, financial aid, remedial education, support 

2 services, coursework, faculty, and staff that may have dif3 ferential impacts on historically underrepresented stu4 dents. 

5 SEC. 3. EQUITY GRANTS. 

6 Title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

7 U.S.C. 1133 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘PART F—EQUITY GRANTS 

10 ‘‘SEC. 791. EQUITY PLANNING GRANTS. 

11 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 

13 planning grants to institutions of higher education 

14 to encourage institutions to conduct equity audits. 

15 ‘‘(2) DURATION.—A grant award under this 

16 section shall be 2 years in duration. 

17 ‘‘(3) MINIMUM GRANT AWARD.—A grant award 

18 under this section shall be in an amount that is not 

19 less than $100,000. 

20 ‘‘(b) APPLICATIONS.—A institution of higher edu21 cation that desires to receive a planning grant under this 

22 section shall submit an application to the Secretary at 

23 such time, in such form, and containing such information, 

24 as the Secretary may require, including not less than the 

25 following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) A narrative statement with sufficient detail 

2 regarding how the institution intends to conduct the 

3 equity audit and that provides examples of certain 

4 policies, practices, and trends the institution intends 

5 to examine. 

6 ‘‘(2) A description of all relevant offices, staff, 

7 and student representation who will be involved in 

8 implementing the equity audit, including demo9 graphic makeup of staff who will be involved in im10 plementing the equity audit, disaggregated by race, 

11 gender, tenure status, and rank. 

12 ‘‘(3) A description of what specific data, enroll13 ment data, and outcome measures the institution 

14 will examine and for which student populations, 

15 disaggregated by gender, race, ethnicity, national or16 igin, income, criminal justice background, military 

17 service history, age, first-generation student status, 

18 students with disabilities, student parents, and 

19 transfer students. 

20 ‘‘(c) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—An institution of high21 er education that receives a planning grant under this sec22 tion to conduct an equity audit shall undertake a thorough 

23 internal review of the institution’s policies, practices, and 

24 resources to identify areas that might produce gaps in ac25 cess and outcomes by gender, race, ethnicity, national oriVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:35 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301

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1 gin, income, criminal justice background, military service 

2 history, or age, or for first-generation students, students 

3 with disabilities, student parents, and transfer students. 

4 The equity audit shall examine, with respect to the institu5 tion of higher education, the following: 

6 ‘‘(1) Admissions policies, including the demo7 graphics of the State or region where the institution 

8 is located, the demographics of communities where 

9 the institution recruits, the secondary schools from 

10 which enrolled students have graduated, the makeup 

11 of students admitted through early admissions, early 

12 decision, demonstrated interest, athletic preference 

13 admissions, and legacy admissions, the use of race, 

14 standardized tests, questions about citizenship sta15 tus, and questions about criminal convictions in ad16 missions processes, the use of application fees and 

17 waivers, and the treatment and admission of trans18 fer students and credit transfer policies, including 

19 articulation agreements. 

20 ‘‘(2) Outreach, communication, and other inter21 actions with students who accept admission to the 

22 institution to ensure they officially enroll when the 

23 school term begins, including interactions to encour24 age students to accept their offer of admission. 


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1 ‘‘(3) The financial aid awarding policies and 

2 processes, including presentation of offer letters that 

3 clearly state the cost of attendance and make clear 

4 the difference between types of aid to students, the 

5 financial aid appeal process, the process of handling 

6 student accounts if funds are delayed due to 

7 verification, institutional grant aid policies (includ8 ing the distribution of need-based and non-need9 based grants), the process of distribution of campus10 based aid, the availability and distribution of emer11 gency aid, the availability or usage of in-kind assist12 ance programs, and the process of which students 

13 receive institutional support and which students lose 

14 institutional support and when that occurs. 

15 ‘‘(4) Access to, and participation in, pre-college 

16 and first-year experience offerings, such as orienta17 tion and bridge programs and advising. 

18 ‘‘(5) Educational supports, such as remedial 

19 placement and success, gateway and intro course 

20 placement and success, academic resource center 

21 usage, advisor to student ratios, and how students 

22 are differentially affected by satisfactory academic 

23 progress policies. 

24 ‘‘(6) Student support services, including demo25 graphics of staff and students served by academic or 


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1 career advising, child care centers, mentoring pro2 grams, and mental health and counseling services. 

3 ‘‘(7) Access to, and availability of, identity4 based centers, staff, academic departments, and ex5 tracurricular organization for students of color, 

6 LGBTQ students, veterans, and other students. 

7 ‘‘(8) Access to, and participation in, small aca8 demic programs, STEM programs, study abroad, 

9 undergraduate research opportunities, internships, 

10 volunteer programs, and civic service programs. 

11 ‘‘(9) Diversity among administrators, advisers, 

12 faculty overall, adjunct faculty, and teachers of core 

13 and introductory-level courses, including pay equity, 

14 career advancement, and tenure, and the demo15 graphics of faculty teaching historically underrep16 resented students. 

17 ‘‘(10) Hiring processes for administrators, ad18 visers, faculty overall, adjunct faculty, and teachers 

19 of core and introductory-level courses. 

20 ‘‘(11) Physical accessibility on the grounds of 

21 the institution and programmatic accessibility of 

22 campus services, activities, and programs. 

23 ‘‘(12) Demographics of students hired by em24 ployers who recruit on campus for internships or 


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1 employment or that the institution has partnerships 

2 with in work-based programs. 

3 ‘‘(13) Any other policy, practice, or trend the 

4 institution deems relevant to identify areas that 

5 might produce gaps in access or outcomes, such as 

6 disciplinary fines and billing practices that lead to 

7 institutional holds or preventing students from en8 rolling. 

9 ‘‘(d) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—An institution of 

10 higher education that receives a grant under this section 

11 shall submit a report to the Secretary detailing findings 

12 of the equity audit not later than 90 days after the date 

13 that the grant period ends and make the report available 

14 on the website of the institution. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 792. EQUITY IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS. 

16 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

17 ‘‘(1) EDUCATIONAL AND RELATED EXPENDI18 TURES.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘educational 

20 and related expenditures’ means, with respect 

21 to an institution of higher education for an aca22 demic year, the total amount that is equal to 

23 the sum of— 

24 ‘‘(i) the amount expended by the insti25 tution of higher education in the academic 


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1 year for instruction and student services, 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(ii) the amount determined under 

4 subparagraph (B) with respect to the insti5 tution of higher education for the academic 

6 year. 

7 ‘‘(B) EDUCATION SHARE.—With respect to 

8 an institution of higher education for an aca9 demic year, the amount determined under this 

10 subparagraph is equal to the product of— 

11 ‘‘(i) the percentage that is equal to— 

12 ‘‘(I) the amount expended by the 

13 institution of higher education in the 

14 academic year for instruction and stu15 dent services, divided by 

16 ‘‘(II) the amount expended by 

17 the institution of higher education in 

18 the academic year for instruction, stu19 dent services, research, and public 

20 service, and 

21 ‘‘(ii) the amount expended by the in22 stitution of higher education in the aca23 demic year for instruction, student serv24 ices, and operation maintenance. 


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1 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en2 tity’ means an institution of higher education that 

3 has received an equity planning grant under section 

4 791. 

5 ‘‘(3) FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT UNDER6 GRADUATE STUDENTS.—The term ‘full-time equiva7 lent undergraduate students’ means the sum of the 

8 number of undergraduate students enrolled full time 

9 at an institution of higher education, plus the full10 time equivalent of the number of undergraduate stu11 dents enrolled part time (determined on the basis of 

12 the quotient of the sum of the credit hours of all 

13 part-time students divided by 12) at such institu14 tion. 

15 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANTS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award, 

17 on a competitive basis, implementation grants to en18 able eligible entities to develop and execute an im19 provement plan to address the findings of the equity 

20 audit. 

21 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF GRANT SIZE.—The 

22 Secretary shall award implementation grants under 

23 this section in an amount based on— 

24 ‘‘(A) the eligible entity’s enrollment size; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the severity of equity audit findings, 

2 including low overall performance outcomes or 

3 large performance gaps between groups of stu4 dents. 

5 ‘‘(3) DURATION.—A grant award under this 

6 section shall be 5 years in duration. 

7 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that de9 sires to receive an implementation grant under this 

10 section shall submit an application to the Secretary 

11 at such time, in such form, and containing such in12 formation, as the Secretary may require. 

13 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 

14 under paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

15 ‘‘(A) Demographic information and data 

16 about the eligible entity, including a description 

17 of the entity’s mission, history, enrollment size, 

18 enrollment by race or ethnicity, the student 

19 population it serves, and educational and re20 lated expenditures. 

21 ‘‘(B) A description of equity audit find22 ings, including the gaps in outcomes identified 

23 and for which group of students, including by 

24 race or ethnicity. 


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1 ‘‘(C) An improvement plan that includes a 

2 description of the specific activities the eligible 

3 entity will carry out with the funds made avail4 able by such grant to address the specific gaps 

5 or problems identified by the equity audit. 

6 ‘‘(D) A description of how the eligible enti7 ty will annually monitor and assess its progress 

8 in closing achievement gaps. 

9 ‘‘(E) A description of the level of institu10 tional commitment and which institutional lead11 ers and offices will be involved in the planning, 

12 improvement, and assessment process. 

13 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—An application submitted 

14 under paragraph (1) shall receive priority based on 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘(A) The average educational and related 

17 expenditures per full-time equivalent under18 graduate student of the eligible entity is low in 

19 comparison with the average educational and 

20 related expenditures per full-time equivalent un21 dergraduate student of institutions that offer 

22 similar instruction. 

23 ‘‘(B) The eligible entity demonstrates low 

24 overall performance outcomes or large perform25 ance gaps between groups of students and subVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:35 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2301.IS S2301

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1 mits additional written statements from select 

2 executive-level institutional leaders, including 

3 members of any governing board of trustees, to 

4 demonstrate their interest and commitment to 

5 executing the improvement plan. 

6 ‘‘(C) The eligible entity has an enrollment 

7 of students not less than 30 percent of whom 

8 are eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant. 

9 ‘‘(d) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) PROGRESS REPORTS.—An eligible entity 

11 awarded an implementation grant under this section 

12 shall submit a report detailing progress on its im13 provement plan to the Secretary not later than 3 

14 years after being awarded the grant and again not 

15 later than 5 years after being awarded the grant. 

16 ‘‘(2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days 

17 after the date a grant period awarded under this 

18 section ends, the Secretary shall submit to Congress 

19 a report detailing the grantee’s initial equity audit 

20 findings and progress in addressing identified equity 

21 gaps. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 793. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

23 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

24 this part such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 

25 2022 and each succeeding fiscal year.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. ACCREDITATION. 

2 Section 496(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

3 (20 U.S.C. 1099b(a)) is amended— 

4 (1) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

5 the semicolon; 

6 (2) in paragraph (8), by striking the period at 

7 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

9 ‘‘(9) such agency or association shall— 

10 ‘‘(A) assess findings from an equity audit 

11 conducted under section 791 of any institution 

12 of higher education the agency or association 

13 accredits; and 

14 ‘‘(B) provide ongoing feedback and tech15 nical assistance to help such institutions ad16 dress the findings from the equity audit and 

17 share best practices from the equity audits.’’. 

Æ 


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