H. R. 4057 
One Hundred Twelfth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and twelve 
An Act 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
to develop a comprehensive policy to improve outreach and transparency to vet-
erans and members of the Armed Forces through the provision of information 
on institutions of higher learning, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. COMPREHENSIVE POLICY ON PROVIDING EDUCATION 
INFORMATION TO VETERANS. 
(a) COMPREHENSIVE POLICY REQUIRED.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 36 of title 38, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section: 
‘‘§ 3698. Comprehensive policy on providing education 
information to veterans 
‘‘(a) COMPREHENSIVE POLICY REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall 
develop a comprehensive policy to improve outreach and trans-
parency to veterans and members of the Armed Forces through 
the provision of information on institutions of higher learning. 
‘‘(b) SCOPE.—In developing the policy required by subsection 
(a), the Secretary shall include each of the following elements: 
‘‘(1) Effective and efficient methods to inform individuals 
of the educational and vocational counseling provided under 
section 3697A of this title. 
‘‘(2) A centralized mechanism for tracking and publishing 
feedback from students and State approving agencies regarding 
the quality of instruction, recruiting practices, and post-gradua-
tion employment placement of institutions of higher learning 
that— 
‘‘(A) allows institutions of higher learning to verify 
feedback and address issues regarding feedback before the 
feedback is published; 
‘‘(B) protects the privacy of students, including by not 
publishing the names of students; and 
‘‘(C) publishes only feedback that conforms with criteria 
for relevancy that the Secretary shall determine. 
‘‘(3) The merit of and the manner in which a State 
approving agency shares with an accrediting agency or associa-
tion recognized by the Secretary of Education under subpart 
2 of part H of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1099b) information regarding the State approving 
agency’s evaluation of an institution of higher learning.
H. R. 4057—2 
‘‘(4) Description of the information provided to individuals 
participating in the Transition Assistance Program under sec-
tion 1144 of title 10 relating to institutions of higher learning. 
‘‘(5) Effective and efficient methods to provide veterans 
and members of the Armed Forces with information regarding 
postsecondary education and training opportunities available 
to the veteran or member. 
‘‘(c) POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION INFORMATION.—(1) The Sec-
retary shall ensure that the information provided pursuant to sub-
section (b)(5) includes— 
‘‘(A) an explanation of the different types of accreditation 
available to educational institutions and programs of education; 
‘‘(B) a description of Federal student aid programs; and 
‘‘(C) for each institution of higher learning, for the most 
recent academic year for which information is available— 
‘‘(i) whether the institution is public, private nonprofit, 
or proprietary for-profit; 
‘‘(ii) the name of the national or regional accrediting 
agency that accredits the institution, including the contact 
information used by the agency to receive complaints from 
students; 
‘‘(iii) information on the State approving agency, 
including the contact information used by the agency to 
receive complaints from students; 
‘‘(iv) whether the institution participates in any pro-
grams under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.); 
‘‘(v) the tuition and fees; 
‘‘(vi) the median amount of debt from Federal student 
loans under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.) held by individuals upon completion 
of programs of education at the institution of higher 
learning (as determined from information collected by the 
Secretary of Education); 
‘‘(vii) the cohort default rate, as defined in section 
435(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1085(m)), of the institution; 
‘‘(viii) the total enrollment, graduation rate, and reten-
tion rate, as determined from information collected by the 
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System of the 
Secretary of Education; 
‘‘(ix) whether the institution provides students with 
technical support, academic support, and other support 
services, including career counseling and job placement; 
and 
‘‘(x) the information regarding the institution’s policies 
related to transfer of credit from other institutions, as 
required under section 485(h)(1) of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(h)(1)) and provided to the 
Secretary of Education under section 132(i)(1)(V)(iv) of such 
Act (20 U.S.C. 1015a(i)(1)(V)(iv)). 
‘‘(2) To the extent practicable, the Secretary shall provide the 
information described in paragraph (1) by including hyperlinks 
on the Internet website of the Department to other Internet 
websites that contain such information, including the Internet
H. R. 4057—3 
website of the Department of Education, in a form that is com-
prehensive and easily understood by veterans, members of the 
Armed Forces, and other individuals. 
‘‘(3)(A) If the Secretary of Veterans Affairs requires, for pur-
poses of providing information pursuant to subsection (b)(5), 
information that has been reported, or information that is similar 
to information that has been reported, by an institution of higher 
learning to the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Defense, 
the Secretary of Labor, or the heads of other Federal agencies 
under a provision of law other than under this section, the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs shall obtain the information the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs requires from the Secretary or head with the 
information rather than the institution of higher learning. 
‘‘(B) If the Secretary of Veterans Affairs requires, for purposes 
of providing information pursuant to subsection (b)(5), information 
from an institution of higher learning that has not been reported 
to another Federal agency, the Secretary shall, to the degree prac-
ticable, obtain such information through the Secretary of Education. 
‘‘(d) CONSISTENCY WITH EXISTING EDUCATION POLICY.—In car-
rying out this section, the Secretary shall ensure that— 
‘‘(1) the comprehensive policy is consistent with any 
requirements and initiatives resulting from Executive Order 
No. 13607; and 
‘‘(2) the efforts of the Secretary to implement the com-
prehensive policy do not duplicate the efforts being taken by 
any Federal agencies. 
‘‘(e) 
COMMUNICATION
WITH
INSTITUTIONS
OF
HIGHER 
LEARNING.—To the extent practicable, if the Secretary considers 
it necessary to communicate with an institution of higher learning 
to carry out the comprehensive policy required by subsection (a), 
the Secretary shall carry out such communication through the 
use of a communication system of the Department of Education. 
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘institution of higher learning’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 3452(f) of this title. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘postsecondary education and training 
opportunities’ means any postsecondary program of education, 
including apprenticeships and on-job training, for which the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs provides assistance to a veteran 
or member of the Armed Forces.’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections at the 
beginning of such chapter is amended by adding after the 
item relating to section 3697A the following new item: 
‘‘3698. Comprehensive policy on providing education information to veterans.’’. 
(b) SURVEY.—In developing the policy required by section 
3698(a) of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection 
(a), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall conduct a market survey 
to determine the availability of the following: 
(1) A commercially available off-the-shelf online tool that 
allows a veteran or member of the Armed Forces to assess 
whether the veteran or member is academically ready to engage 
in postsecondary education and training opportunities and 
whether the veteran or member would need any remedial 
preparation before beginning such opportunities. 
(2) A commercially available off-the-shelf online tool that 
provides a veteran or member of the Armed Forces with a