I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4343 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of 

Education to publish requirements for financial aid offers to be provided 

by institutions of higher education to enrolled and prospective students, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 

Mrs. TRAHAN (for herself and Mr. SMUCKER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the 

Secretary of Education to publish requirements for financial aid offers to be provided by institutions of higher 

education to enrolled and prospective students, 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 ‘‘Financial Aid Commu5 nication and Transparency Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘FACT 

6 Act of 2019’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•HR 4343 IH

1 SEC. 2. FINANCIAL AID OFFERS. 

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

3 U.S.C. 1092) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(n) FINANCIAL AID OFFERS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENTS FOR OFFERS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) SECRETARIAL REQUIREMENTS.—Not 

8 later than 18 months after the date of enact9 ment of the Financial Aid Communication and 

10 Transparency Act of 2019 the Secretary shall, 

11 based on the consumer testing conducted under 

12 subparagraph (E), publish requirements for fi13 nancial aid offers that shall— 

14 ‘‘(i) include a requirement that finan15 cial aid offers shall serve as the primary 

16 source for Federal, State, and institutional 

17 financial aid information provided by an 

18 institution of higher education partici19 pating in any program under this title to 

20 each prospective student accepted for ad21 mission and each enrolled student at such 

22 institution; 

23 ‘‘(ii) include a requirement that such 

24 offers include a standardized quick ref25 erence box described in subparagraph (D); 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•HR 4343 IH

1 ‘‘(iii) establish standardized terms and 

2 definitions, including for the elements list3 ed in subparagraph (C), that shall be in4 cluded in each such offer; 

5 ‘‘(iv) establish formatting require6 ments with respect to the organization of 

7 the elements listed in subparagraph (C), 

8 which shall include, at a minimum, a re9 quirement that prohibits such offers from 

10 displaying loans in a manner that indicates 

11 or implies that such loans reduce the 

12 amount owed to the institution or reduce 

13 the net price; and 

14 ‘‘(v) specify the simple, plain-lan15 guage, and consumer-friendly information 

16 to be included in each such offer with re17 spect to the financial aid being offered to 

18 a student, which shall include— 

19 ‘‘(I) an explanation of differences 

20 among each such type of financial aid, 

21 including clear explanations that— 

22 ‘‘(aa) grants and scholar23 ships do not have to be repaid; 

24 ‘‘(bb) loans (including loans 

25 made under part D and private 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•HR 4343 IH

1 education loans (as defined in 

2 section 140 of the Truth in 

3 Lending Act)) must be repaid 

4 with interest; and 

5 ‘‘(cc) payments under Fed6 eral work-study programs under 

7 part C are contingent on finding 

8 qualified employment and are 

9 typically disbursed incrementally 

10 in paychecks; 

11 ‘‘(II) information clarifying that 

12 students may— 

13 ‘‘(aa) decline to accept a 

14 loan made under part D; or 

15 ‘‘(bb) accept an amount of 

16 such loan that is less than the 

17 amount of such loan included in 

18 the financial aid offer; and 

19 ‘‘(III) in a case in which the in20 stitution offers a student such a loan 

21 in an amount that is less than the 

22 maximum amount for which the stu23 dent is eligible, an explanation that 

24 the student is eligible for additional 

25 loans under part D. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
5 

•HR 4343 IH

1 ‘‘(B) INSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

2 Beginning with the award year that begins not 

3 less than 1 year after the Secretary publishes 

4 requirements under subparagraph (A), each in5 stitution of higher education described in sub6 paragraph (A)(i) shall provide a financial aid 

7 offer to each student described in such subpara8 graph prior to each academic year that— 

9 ‘‘(i) shall comply with the require10 ments published by the Secretary under 

11 subparagraph (A); and 

12 ‘‘(ii) may be supplemented by the in13 stitution with additional, non-contradictory 

14 information related to financial aid as long 

15 as such supplementary information uses 

16 the standardized terms and definitions de17 scribed in subparagraph (A)(iii). 

18 ‘‘(C) ELEMENTS.—A financial aid offer 

19 provided by an institution of higher education 

20 shall include the following elements with respect 

21 to the academic year for which the offer is 

22 being provided: 

23 ‘‘(i) The cost of attendance, which 

24 shall include separately calculated sub25 totals of— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
6 

•HR 4343 IH

1 ‘‘(I) an itemized list of estimated 

2 direct costs owed to the institution; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(II) an itemized list of antici5 pated student expenses not covered 

6 under subclause (I). 

7 ‘‘(ii) Federal, State, and institutional 

8 financial aid available to the student, 

9 which shall include separately calculated 

10 subtotals of— 

11 ‘‘(I) grants and scholarships; 

12 ‘‘(II) loans made under part D 

13 (excluding Federal Direct Parent 

14 PLUS Loans); and 

15 ‘‘(III) Federal work-study pro16 grams under part C and other on17 campus employment. 

18 ‘‘(iii) Other options that may be avail19 able to students to cover the cost of at20 tendance (including Federal Direct Parent 

21 PLUS Loans, tuition payment plans, sav22 ings, and earnings from other employ23 ment). 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
7 

•HR 4343 IH

1 ‘‘(iv) The net price, which shall be de2 termined by calculating the difference be3 tween— 

4 ‘‘(I) the cost of attendance de5 scribed in clause (i); and 

6 ‘‘(II) the grants and scholarships 

7 described in clause (ii)(I). 

8 ‘‘(v) Next step instructions, includ9 ing— 

10 ‘‘(I) the process and deadlines for 

11 accepting the financial aid; and 

12 ‘‘(II) information about where to 

13 find additional information on the fi14 nancial aid offered. 

15 ‘‘(vi) Any other information deter16 mined necessary by the Secretary based on 

17 the consumer testing conducted under sub18 paragraph (E), which may include the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(I) An estimate of the net direct 

21 cost, which shall be determined by cal22 culating the difference between— 

23 ‘‘(aa) the direct costs owed 

24 to the institution described in 

25 clause (i)(I); and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
8 

•HR 4343 IH

1 ‘‘(bb) the grants and schol2 arships described in clause (ii)(I). 

3 ‘‘(II) Information on average stu4 dent debt, loan repayment and default 

5 rates, loan repayment options, and 

6 graduation rates. 

7 ‘‘(III) In the case of a prospec8 tive student, the process and deadlines 

9 for enrolling at the institution. 

10 ‘‘(IV) Information regarding the 

11 enrollment period covered by the aid 

12 offer, and whether the cost and aid 

13 estimates are based on full-time or 

14 part-time enrollment. 

15 ‘‘(D) STANDARDIZED QUICK REFERENCE

16 BOX.—A financial aid offer provided by an in17 stitution of higher education shall include a 

18 standardized quick reference box to enable stu19 dents to quickly and easily compare key infor20 mation on college costs and financial aid— 

21 ‘‘(i) that shall be included in an iden22 tical fashion for each student receiving a 

23 financial aid offer from the institution on 

24 the first page of such offer; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
9 

•HR 4343 IH

1 ‘‘(ii) the contents and structure of 

2 which shall be developed through consumer 

3 testing conducted under paragraph (E); 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(iii) shall include three data ele6 ments: 

7 ‘‘(I) Cost of attendance. 

8 ‘‘(II) Total grants and scholar9 ships offered. 

10 ‘‘(III) Net price. 

11 ‘‘(E) CONSUMER TESTING.—The Secretary 

12 shall— 

13 ‘‘(i) conduct consumer testing that 

14 shall serve as the basis in determining the 

15 requirements for financial aid offers pub16 lished under subparagraph (A), which shall 

17 include students (including low-income stu18 dents, English learners, first generation 

19 college students, veteran students, grad20 uate students, and undergraduate students 

21 (including prospective students and return22 ing students)), students’ families (includ23 ing low-income families, families of English 

24 learners, and families with first generation 

25 college students), institutions of higher 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
10 

•HR 4343 IH

1 education (including representatives from 

2 two- and four-year institutions, public and 

3 private institutions, and minority-serving 

4 institutions), secondary school and postsec5 ondary counselors, financial aid adminis6 trators, nonprofit college access organiza7 tions, and nonprofit consumer groups; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) not later than 60 days after the 

9 publication of the requirements under sub10 paragraph (A)— 

11 ‘‘(I) issue a report on the find12 ings of the consumer testing under 

13 this subparagraph; and 

14 ‘‘(II) specify ways in which the 

15 findings are reflected in such require16 ments. 

17 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

18 ‘‘(A) the term ‘cost of attendance’ has the 

19 meaning given the term in section 472; 

20 ‘‘(B) the term ‘English learner’ has the 

21 meaning given the term in section 8101(20) of 

22 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

23 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(20)), except that such 

24 term does not include individuals described in 

25 subparagraph (B) of such section; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
11 

•HR 4343 IH

1 ‘‘(C) the term ‘first generation college stu2 dent’ has the meaning given the term in section 

3 402A(h); 

4 ‘‘(D) the term ‘low-income student’ has the 

5 meaning given the term in section 419N(b)(7); 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(E) the term ‘minority-serving institution’ 

8 means an institution of higher education de9 scribed in section 371(a).’’. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS