II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1718 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide for reimbursement 

to servicemembers of tuition for programs of education interrupted by 

military service, for deferment of students loans and reduced interest 

rates for servicemembers during periods of military service, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 27, 2007 

Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. SALAZAR) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide 

for reimbursement to servicemembers of tuition for programs of education interrupted by military service, for 

deferment of students loans and reduced interest rates 

for servicemembers during periods of military service, 

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 ‘‘Veterans Education 

5 Tuition Support Act’’ or the ‘‘VETS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings: 

4 (1) There is no more important cause than the 

5 defense of the United States. 

6 (2) Since 2003, nearly 1,300,000 members of 

7 the Armed Forces have served in Iraq or Afghani8 stan and over 420,000 members of the Armed 

9 Forces in the National Guard and Reserve have been 

10 called to active duty. 

11 (3) The men and women of the Armed Forces 

12 put their lives on hold, leave their families, jobs, and 

13 postsecondary education in order to serve the United 

14 States, and do so with distinction. 

15 (4) In 2005, 500,000 veterans claimed edu16 cation benefits from the Department of Veterans Af17 fairs and approximately 47,000 of those veterans are 

18 members of the National Guard or Reserve and re19 cently returned from serving in the Armed Forces in 

20 Iraq or Afghanistan. 

21 (5) Many members of the Armed Forces depend 

22 on various forms of financial aid in addition to their 

23 Montgomery GI Bill benefits to help fund their col24 lege education. 

25 (6) The 6 percent interest rate cap on all debts 

26 of members of the Armed Forces called to active 


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1 duty guaranteed by the Servicemembers Civil Relief 

2 Act (50 U.S.C. App. 501 et seq.) has been inter3 preted narrowly by the Secretary of Education not 

4 to apply to Federal student loans. 

5 (7) Members of the Armed Forces who return 

6 from deployment overseas in the Armed Forces and 

7 who are unable to continue immediately a program 

8 of education that they were forced to discontinue be9 cause of such deployment are being forced to begin 

10 making payments on their private students loans 

11 only 1 month after such return. 

12 (8) The transition from service in the Armed 

13 Forces in a combat theater to a classroom is a dif14 ficult challenge and should not be rushed merely to 

15 avoid paying back student loans. 

16 (9) As of the date of the enactment of this Act, 

17 colleges are not required to make reasonable accom18 modations for students who are called to active duty 

19 in the Armed Forces, such as tuition reimbursement 

20 and relaxation of requirements for reenrollment. 

21 (10) Members of the Armed Forces who return 

22 from deployment overseas and attempt to reenroll in 

23 a program of education are overwhelmed with bu24 reaucracy. 


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1 (11) Studies have shown that symptoms of 

2 post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other 

3 non-apparent injuries may take up to a year to 

4 manifest. 

5 (12) Members of the Armed Forces deserve to 

6 have at least a full academic year to reintegrate into 

7 society before they are required to begin paying back 

8 student loans. 

9 (13) Members of the Armed Forces who fight 

10 to protect the United States deserve a Government 

11 that fights to protect them. 

12 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 

13 (1) to assist members of the Armed Forces who 

14 return from a deployment to transition from military 

15 service to civilian life and to undertake programs of 

16 education they were forced to discontinue because of 

17 such deployment; 

18 (2) to provide a 13-month transition period for 

19 such members to reenroll in such a program of edu20 cation and to begin paying back student loans un21 dertaken for such program of education; 

22 (3) to institute a 6 percent interest rate cap on 

23 student loans of a member of the Armed Forces 

24 while such member is deployed on active duty; and 


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1 (4) to require providers of programs of edu2 cation to provide reasonable accommodations to their 

3 students who are members of the Armed Forces and 

4 who discontinue a program of education because of 

5 a deployment. 

6 SEC. 3. RELIEF FOR STUDENTS WHO DISCONTINUE EDU7 CATION BECAUSE OF MILITARY SERVICE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Servicemembers 

9 Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 591 et seq.) is amended 

10 by adding at the end the following new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 707. TUITION, REENROLLMENT, AND STUDENT LOAN 

12 RELIEF FOR POSTSECONDARY STUDENTS 

13 CALLED TO MILITARY SERVICE. 

14 ‘‘(a) TUITION AND REENROLLMENT.—In the case of 

15 a servicemember who because of military service discon16 tinues a program of education at an institution of higher 

17 education that administers a Federal financial aid pro18 gram, such institution of higher education shall— 

19 ‘‘(1) refund to such servicemember the tuition 

20 and fees paid by such servicemember from personal 

21 funds, or from a loan, for the portion of the pro22 gram of education for which such servicemember did 

23 not receive academic credit because of such military 

24 service; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) provide such servicemember an oppor2 tunity to reenroll in such program of education with 

3 the same educational and academic status such 

4 servicemember had when such servicemember discon5 tinued such program of education because of such 

6 military service. 

7 ‘‘(b) DEFERMENT OF REPAYMENT OF LOANS.—In 

8 the case of a servicemember who because of military serv9 ice discontinues a program of education at an institution 

10 of higher education, the following rules shall apply to a 

11 provider of student loans who has provided a student loan 

12 to such servicemember that is not in payment status on 

13 the date the period of military service begins: 

14 ‘‘(1) If such servicemember reenrolls in the pro15 gram of education (or a comparable program) within 

16 13 months following the period of military service, 

17 the provider shall disregard the entire period the 

18 program of education was discontinued in deter19 mining the date on which repayment of the student 

20 loan is to begin. 

21 ‘‘(2) If such servicemember does not so reenroll, 

22 the provider shall not require repayment of the stu23 dent loan to begin before the later of the last day 

24 of such 13-month period or the date the repayment 

25 was to begin without regard to this subsection. 


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1 ‘‘(c) INTEREST RATE LIMITATION ON STUDENT

2 LOANS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para4 graph (2) of this subsection, a student loan shall be 

5 considered an obligation or liability for the purposes 

6 of section 207. 

7 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (c) of section 

8 207 shall not apply to a student loan. 

9 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘Federal financial aid program’ 

11 means a program providing loans made, insured, or 

12 guaranteed under part B, D, or E of title IV of the 

13 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1077 et 

14 seq., 1087a et seq., 1087aa et seq.). 

15 ‘‘(2) The term ‘institution of higher education’ 

16 means a 2-year or 4-year institution of higher edu17 cation as defined in section 102 of the Higher Edu18 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 

19 ‘‘(3) The term ‘student loan’ means any loan, 

20 whether Federal, State, or private, to assist an indi21 vidual to attend an institution of higher education, 

22 including a loan made, insured, or guaranteed under 

23 part B, D, or E of title IV of the Higher Education 

24 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1077 et seq., 1087a et seq., 

25 1087aa et seq.).’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

2 in section (1)(b) of such Act is amended by adding at the 

3 end the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 707. Tuition, reenrollment, and student loan relief for postsecondary students called to military service.’’. 

4 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

5 this section shall take effect for periods of military service 

6 beginning after the date of the enactment of this section. 

Æ 


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