I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1937 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to update reporting require-
ments for institutions of higher education and provide for more accurate 
and complete data on student retention, graduation, and earnings out-
comes at all levels of postsecondary enrollment. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 9, 2013 
Mr. HUNTER (for himself and Mr. ANDREWS) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to update 
reporting requirements for institutions of higher edu-
cation and provide for more accurate and complete data 
on student retention, graduation, and earnings outcomes 
at all levels of postsecondary enrollment. 
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 ‘‘Student Right to Know 
Before You Go Act of 2013’’. 
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SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREE-
MENTS. 
Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(17)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, 
in accordance with section 493E’’ after ‘‘of the Sec-
retary’’. 
SEC. 3. INSTITUTIONAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE IN-
FORMATION FOR STUDENTS. 
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) ALIGNMENT WITH INSTITUTIONAL REPORTING 
REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO IPEDS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 
after the date of enactment of the Student Right to 
Know Before You Go Act of 2013, the Secretary 
shall issue guidance outlining which data metrics re-
quired to be submitted by institutions of higher edu-
cation under section 493E are duplicative of institu-
tional reporting requirements under this section and 
other provisions of this Act. 
‘‘(2) LINK
TO
INSTITUTIONAL
REPORTING 
WEBSITE.—Not later than 5 years after the date of 
enactment of the Student Right to Know Before You 
Go Act of 2013, an institution of higher education 
participating in any program under this title shall— 
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‘‘(A) not be required to make available 
such duplicative requirements, as determined 
under paragraph (1), under this section and 
other provisions of this Act; and 
‘‘(B) provide a prominently displayed link 
on the institution’s website to the website de-
scribed in section 493E(e).’’. 
SEC. 4. INSTITUTIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) AMENDMENT TO DATABASE OF STUDENT INFOR-
MATION PROHIBITED.—Section 134(b) of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1015c(b)) is amend-
ed— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 
the semicolon; 
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) is necessary to carry out section 493E.’’. 
(b) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Part G of title IV 
of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1088 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 493E. INSTITUTIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(1) SUBMISSION OF DATA.—Each institution 
of higher education participating in a program under 
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this title shall submit to the Secretary data, as de-
termined by the Secretary, sufficient to complete all 
student components of reporting required for the In-
tegrated Postsecondary Education Data System (re-
ferred to in this section as ‘IPEDS’). Not later than 
1 year after the date of enactment of the Student 
Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013, the Sec-
retary shall submit to institutions of higher edu-
cation guidance related to the submission of data 
under this paragraph. 
‘‘(2) REVIEW.—The Secretary shall review, 
every 5 years, the determination of the category of 
data that shall be submitted pursuant to paragraph 
(1). 
‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT
OF ADDITIONAL STUDENT 
CLASSIFICATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of enactment of the Student Right to Know 
Before You Go Act of 2013, the Secretary shall— 
‘‘(A) establish common definitions for in-
stitutions to follow in submitting the data re-
quired under this section; and 
‘‘(B) determine both collection and submis-
sion requirements. 
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‘‘(2) IDENTIFICATION OF UNIT RECORDS.—The 
Secretary shall require institutions to identify stu-
dent unit records to enable coding and reporting 
on— 
‘‘(A) students who participate in remedial 
education at, or through, the institution; 
‘‘(B) whether, and at what level, the stu-
dent is seeking a degree; and 
‘‘(C) whether the student is seeking a cer-
tificate. 
‘‘(c) 
ESTABLISHMENT
OF
NEW
OUTCOME 
METRICS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Data submitted to the Sec-
retary under subsection (a) shall be used to calculate 
all student components of IPEDS. 
‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL
MEASURES
TO
BE
CAL-
CULATED.—In addition to student component out-
come measures required to be calculated by the Sec-
retary on the day before the date of enactment of 
the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 
2013, the Secretary shall also calculate, not later 
than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Stu-
dent Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013, at 
the institutional and program specific level: 
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Program under chapter 33 of title 38, 
United States Code. The Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs shall coordinate with the Sec-
retary to make available data sufficient to 
enable such reporting under this clause. 
‘‘(v) Enrollment status, including the 
following: 
‘‘(I) First-time, full-time stu-
dents. 
‘‘(II) First-time, part-time stu-
dents. 
‘‘(III) Non-first-time, full-time 
students. 
‘‘(IV) Non-first-time, part-time 
students. 
‘‘(vi) Enrollment intensity while en-
rolled at the institution, including the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(I) Full-time only. 
‘‘(II) Part-time only. 
‘‘(III) Mixed enrollment, both 
full- and part-time. 
‘‘(H) Other information determined nec-
essary. 
‘‘(d) LINKAGE TO EARNINGS RECORD DATA.— 
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‘‘(1) EARNINGS
METRICS.—The Secretary, in 
cooperation with the Commissioner of Social Secu-
rity, shall establish a system under which the stu-
dent components of IPEDS are used to create earn-
ings metrics. Such system shall enable the publica-
tion of data on median annual earnings and employ-
ment metrics, disaggregated by— 
‘‘(A) educational program based on CIP 
code; 
‘‘(B) credential received; 
‘‘(C) educational institution; and 
‘‘(D) State of employment. 
‘‘(2) STANDARD TIME PERIODS FOR REPORTING 
EARNINGS
OUTCOMES.—The Secretary shall make 
publicly available median annual earnings disaggre-
gated by the categories described in subparagraphs 
(A) through (D) of paragraph (1) for each of the 
following time periods: 
‘‘(A) 2 years after educational program 
completion. 
‘‘(B) 6 years after educational program 
completion. 
‘‘(C) 15 years after educational program 
completion. 
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‘‘(e) PUBLIC ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—The infor-
mation aggregated by the Secretary under this section 
shall be included in the IPEDS and posted on a website 
in a timely and user-friendly manner and in a way that 
does not allow for the dissemination of any personally 
identifiable information. 
‘‘(f) ENSURING COMPARABILITY OF DATA METRIC.— 
For a period of 5 years following the date of enactment 
of the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013, 
the Secretary shall be responsible for publishing all stu-
dent components of IPEDS as such components would 
have been produced on the day before the date of enact-
ment of the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act 
of 2013. 
‘‘(g) INVOLVEMENT OF STATES AND LEVERAGING OF 
INVESTMENT IN EXISTING STATE-BASED SYSTEMS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 
444 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 
U.S.C. 1232g, commonly known as the ‘Family Edu-
cational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’) except as 
provided in paragraph (2), in carrying out this sec-
tion, the Secretary shall consult extensively with 
State offices with existing student-level data collec-
tions from public and private institutions. 
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‘‘(2) NO SHARING OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFI-
ABLE INFORMATION.—The Secretary, a State, or in-
stitution shall not share personally identifiable infor-
mation of a student in carrying out paragraph (1), 
except as necessary to enable individuals who are 
employed by the Department to meet the reporting 
requirements and data dissemination purposes and 
requirements under this Act. 
‘‘(h) INVOLVEMENT OF INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER 
EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING CALCULATION AND REPORT-
ING STANDARDS.—In carrying out this section, the Sec-
retary shall consult extensively with institutions of higher 
education and State agencies of higher education, particu-
larly in the formulation of the calculation and reporting 
standards outlined in subsections (b), (c), and (d), and 
the public access to information under subsection (e). 
‘‘(i) USE OF DATA FOR INSTITUTIONAL IMPROVE-
MENT.—The Secretary shall create a process through 
which institutions of higher education participating in pro-
grams under this title and States may request and receive 
from the Department aggregate student outcome data for 
the purposes of institutional improvement and program 
evaluation. The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to 
ensure fair and equitable access to such data. In cases 
where institutional data are merged with Federal record 
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sets and the resulting data are used for Federal account-
ability purposes beyond reporting to the public, the Sec-
retary shall develop procedures to provide opportunities 
for institutional review of the disaggregated merged data. 
‘‘(j) PRIVACY, SECURITY, AND USE OF INFORMA-
TION.— 
‘‘(1) IDENTITY PROTECTION.—The data system 
developed under this section shall not permit an in-
dividual to be individually identified by users of the 
data system who are not actively working as data-
base administrators of the system. 
‘‘(2) DATA AUDIT AND DATA GOVERNANCE SYS-
TEMS.—The data system developed under this sec-
tion shall include a data audit system assessing data 
quality, validity, and reliability and a data govern-
ance system to ensure compliance with all Federal 
standards of data quality and individual privacy. 
‘‘(3) PROHIBITION AND UNAUTHORIZED USE.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Individual data col-
lected under this section shall not be used for 
any purpose not specifically authorized by Fed-
eral law. 
‘‘(B) NO FEDERAL ACTION.—No action of 
Federal authority may be taken against an indi-
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