I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5779 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of 
Education to create a personal finance education portal on a centralized 
website of the Department of Education pertaining to Federal financial 
aid. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 28, 2021 
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ (for herself and Mrs. SPARTZ) 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 require 
the Secretary of Education to create a personal finance 
education portal on a centralized website of the Depart-
ment of Education pertaining to Federal financial aid. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Financial Fitness 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Nearly 43,000,000 people owe an average of 
$36,406 in Federal student loans, and student loan 
debt 
in 
the 
United 
States 
totals 
$1,730,000,000,000, growing 6 times faster than 
the Nation’s economy. 
(2) Student debt has significant racial equity 
implications. Almost half of Black college students 
are using Federal student loans to cover educational 
costs, and Black college graduates are still substan-
tially more likely than white college graduates to de-
fault on their debt within 4 years of graduation (7.6 
percent versus 2.4 percent of white graduates). In 
addition, 4 years after graduation, 48 percent of 
Black students owe an average of 12.5 percent more 
than they borrowed. Students who are veterans, par-
ents, first-generation college students, or low income 
are also likely to face higher risk of default. 
(3) Since before the COVID–19 pandemic, 
about 23 percent of Hispanic and Latino college 
graduates who had taken out loans for tuition and 
school expenses were behind on their payments, in 
contrast with 6 percent of white student borrowers. 
Hispanic and Latino borrowers also were the most 
likely to delay getting married and having children 
due to student loan debt. 
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(4) Native American financial status remains 
among the lowest of all minority populations in the 
Nation. Native people are the least likely of all popu-
lation groups, including other minorities, to plan for 
retirement, have an emergency fund, or have a 
checking account. Native American and Alaska Na-
tive borrowers take on student loan debt at a rate 
higher than the overall population, 76 percent com-
pared to 69 percent. 
(5) Among college graduates with any out-
standing debt for their education, first-generation 
college graduates tend to owe more. About two- 
thirds of first-generation college graduates owe at 
least $25,000 or more, compared with 57 percent of 
second-generation college graduates, and 200,000 
United 
States 
service 
members 
owe 
nearly 
$3,000,000,000 in student loans. 
(6) Student debt among older adults has stead-
ily increased, with many individuals taking on debt 
to finance higher education for their children and 
grandchildren. 
(7) Despite the fact that many students and 
families must make substantial and highly con-
sequential decisions about student loan borrowing 
and face growing college affordability challenges, less 
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than half of States make personal finance a core 
part of basic education. 
(8) Just over 2 in 10 non-retirees under age 45 
have retirement savings that meet their age-specific 
thresholds. 42 percent of Americans age 18–29 have 
no retirement savings; 26 percent of those age 30– 
44; 17 percent of those age 45–59; and 13 percent 
of those over age 60. 
(9) People with self-directed retirement savings 
(nearly 7 in 10 non-retired adults) must make deci-
sions about how the money is invested. Six in 10 
non-retirees with these self-directed accounts express 
low levels of comfort in making investment decisions 
with their retirement savings. 
(10) The COVID–19 pandemic exacerbated the 
need to provide families with better tools to weather 
financial challenges, with a rapid spike in unemploy-
ment occurring in mid-2020, along with significant 
shifts to individuals’ housing and transportation 
needs. 
(11) Nearly 1 in 10 student loan borrowers end 
up in default, and even more struggle to repay their 
loans, indicating an important need to ensure bor-
rowers can access information to help them navigate 
repayment and succeed financially. 
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SEC. 3. PERSONAL FINANCE EDUCATION PORTAL. 
Section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1092) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(n) PERSONAL FINANCE EDUCATION PORTAL.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary, in consultation with the Director of the Bu-
reau of Consumer Financial Protection, the Sec-
retary of the Treasury as chair of the Financial Lit-
eracy and Education Commission, and the Commis-
sioner of Internal Revenue, shall create a personal 
finance education portal on a centralized and pub-
licly available website of the Department pertaining 
to Federal financial aid for the voluntary use by re-
cipients of aid awarded under this title. 
‘‘(2) CONTENT
OF
PERSONAL
FINANCE
EDU-
CATION
PORTAL.—The personal finance education 
portal created under paragraph (1) shall include in-
formation on personal finance concepts, including 
the following: 
‘‘(A) Core personal finance concepts, such 
as earning, saving, investing, spending, and 
borrowing, including— 
‘‘(i) the concept of compound growth 
as it applies to savings and retirement sav-
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