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going into careers where the population is underrep-
resented. 
(b) SUBMISSION OF REPORT.—Not later than one 
year after the date of the enactment this Act, the Sec-
retary shall submit a report on the study required by sub-
section (a)(1), together with the recommendations re-
quired by subsection (a)(2), to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor and Pensions of the Senate and the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House 
of Representatives. 
SEC. 928. STUDY OF EDUCATION-RELATED INDEBTEDNESS 
OF MEDICAL SCHOOL GRADUATES. 
(a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Secretary of Education 
shall conduct a study to evaluate the higher education-
related indebtedness of medical school graduates in the 
United States at the time of graduation. 
(b) DEADLINE.—Not later than one year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 
a report on the study required by subsection (a) to the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House 
of Representatives and the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor and Pensions of the Senate, and shall make 
the report widely available to the public. Additional re-
ports may be periodically prepared and released as nec-
essary.
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SEC. 929. STUDY OF ADULT LEARNERS. 
The Secretary of Education shall conduct a study of 
the developing trends in older adult learners attending col-
lege and how institutions of higher education are address-
ing the needs of this specific population in terms of out-
reach, accessibility, financing, and student support serv-
ices, including online education. The Secretary shall sub-
mit a report on the study to the Committee on Education 
and the Workforce of the House of Representatives that 
includes recommendations on measures the Federal Gov-
ernment can take to address the needs in regards to edu-
cation and job training for the aging population and the 
changing demographics of our country. 
SEC. 930. INCREASE IN COLLEGE TEXTBOOK PRICES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Committee on Education and 
the Workforce of the House of Representatives makes the 
following findings: 
(1) The rising costs of higher education are 
making a postsecondary education inaccessible for 
many individuals. 
(2) The rise in college textbook pricing contrib-
utes to the overall costs of higher education, and 
many factors have contributed to the rise in text-
book pricing. 
(b) SENSE OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND 
THE WORKFORCE.—It is the sense of the Committee on
385
Education and the Workforce of the House of Representa-
tives that in order to make a higher education more acces-
sible for all students, the following should occur to make 
college textbooks more affordable for students: 
(1) The Congress encourages textbook pub-
lishers to provide students with the option of buying 
materials such as textbooks, CD–ROMs, access to 
websites, 
and 
workbooks, 
‘‘a 
la 
carte’’ 
or 
‘‘unbundled’’. 
(2) Textbook publishers should work with fac-
ulty to understand the cost to students of pur-
chasing the recommended textbooks. 
(3) College bookstores should work with faculty 
to review timelines and processes for ordering and 
stocking selected textbooks, and disclose textbook 
costs to faculty and students. 
(4) Colleges and universities should be encour-
aged to implement numerous options to address 
textbook affordability. 
SEC. 931. INDEPENDENT EVALUATION OF DISTANCE EDU-
CATION PROGRAMS. 
(a) INDEPENDENT EVALUATION.—The Secretary of 
Education shall enter into an agreement with the National 
Academy of Sciences to conduct a scientifically correct and 
statistically valid evaluation of the quality of distance edu-
386
cation programs, as compared to campus-based education 
programs, at institutions of higher education. Such eval-
uation shall include—
(1) identification of the elements by which the 
quality of distance education, as compared to cam-
pus-based education, can be assessed, including ele-
ments such as subject matter, interactivity, and stu-
dent outcomes; 
(2) identification of distance and campus-based 
education program success, with respect to student 
achievement, in relation to the mission of the insti-
tution of higher education; and 
(3) identification of the types of students (in-
cluding classification of types of students based on 
student age) who most benefit from distance edu-
cation programs, the types of students who most 
benefit from campus-based education programs, and 
the types of students who do not benefit from dis-
tance education programs, by assessing elements in-
cluding access to higher education, job placement 
rates, undergraduate graduation rates, and graduate 
and professional degree attainment rates. 
(b) SCOPE.—The National Academy of Sciences shall 
select for participation in the evaluation under subsection