I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2518 
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 21, 2015 
Mr. HUNTER (for himself, Mrs. LOVE, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. GOWDY, Mr. RYAN 
of Wisconsin, and Mrs. DAVIS of California) 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 2015’’. 
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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 
‘‘and including the requirements of section 493E’’ after 
‘‘as designated by the Secretary’’. 
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 2015, 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 2015, 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)(2).’’. 
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’’; 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 suffi-
cient, as determined by the Secretary, to complete 
all student components of reporting required for the 
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System 
(referred to in this section as ‘IPEDS’). 
‘‘(2) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of enactment of the Student Right to Know 
Before You Go Act of 2015, the Secretary shall sub-
mit to institutions of higher education guidance re-
lated to the submission of data under this sub-
section. 
‘‘(3) REVIEW.—The Secretary shall review, 
every 5 years, the determination of the categories 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 2015, the Secretary shall— 
‘‘(A) establish common definitions for in-
stitutions to follow in submitting the data re-
quired under this section; and 
‘‘(B) determine collection and submission 
requirements. 
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‘‘(2) 
STUDENT-LEVEL
COMPONENTS
OF 
IPEDS.—The Secretary shall require institutions of 
higher education participating in a program under 
this title to submit student-level components of 
IPEDS 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 subsections (a) and (b) shall be used 
to calculate all student-level components of IPEDS. 
‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL
MEASURES
TO
BE
CAL-
CULATED.—In addition to the student-level compo-
nent outcome measures required to be calculated by 
the Secretary on the day before the date of enact-
ment of the Student Right to Know Before You Go 
Act of 2015, the Secretary shall, beginning not later 
than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Stu-
dent Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2015, 
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also calculate, at the institutional and program-spe-
cific levels, the following: 
‘‘(A) The percentage of students who re-
ceive— 
‘‘(i) Federal grants; 
‘‘(ii) Federal loans; 
‘‘(iii) State grants; 
‘‘(iv) State loans; 
‘‘(v) institutional grants; or 
‘‘(vi) institutional loans. 
‘‘(B) The average amount of total Federal 
loan debt upon student graduation assumed by 
students while enrolled at the institution. 
‘‘(C) The average amount of total Federal 
loan debt of students who do not complete a 
program of study 2 years after the students’ 
last known enrollment in any institution of 
higher education. 
‘‘(D) Student transfer rates by sector of 
transfer, which shall be defined as the percent-
age of students who leave an institution and 
successfully enroll in and complete a program of 
study at another institution, including whether 
the receiving institution is a public 4-year insti-
tution, public 2-year institution, public less- 
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than-2-year institution, private nonprofit 4-year 
institution, private nonprofit 2-year institution, 
private nonprofit less-than-2-year institution, 
private for-profit 4-year institution, private for- 
profit 2-year institution, or private for-profit 
less-than-2-year institution. 
‘‘(E) Rates of continuation to higher levels 
of education. 
‘‘(F) The percentage of students who re-
ceive the degree level they initially sought. 
‘‘(G) The outcome measures described in 
subparagraphs (A) through (F), in addition to 
all student-level components of IPEDS required 
to be reported on the day before the date of en-
actment of the Student Right to Know Before 
You Go Act of 2015, disaggregated on the basis 
of the following student types: 
‘‘(i) Students who received a Federal 
Pell Grant. 
‘‘(ii) Students who received a loan 
under part B or part D, but not a Federal 
Pell Grant. 
‘‘(iii) Students who received neither a 
Federal Pell Grant, nor a loan under part 
B or part D. 
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‘‘(iv) Students who are identified as 
veterans or members of the Armed Forces 
who received assistance under the Post-9/ 
11 Veterans Educational Assistance Pro-
gram under chapter 33 of title 38, United 
States Code, or tuition assistance under 
the laws administered by the Secretary of 
Defense. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
and Secretary of the Department of De-
fense shall coordinate with the Secretary 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: 
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‘‘(I) Full-time only. 
‘‘(II) Part-time only. 
‘‘(III) Mixed enrollment, both 
full- and part-time. 
‘‘(H) Earning metrics, generated through 
a system established by the Secretary in co-
operation with the Commissioner of Social Se-
curity and using the student components of 
IPEDS, that shall include— 
‘‘(i) median annual earnings and em-
ployment metrics, disaggregated by— 
‘‘(I) educational program based 
on CIP code; 
‘‘(II) credential received; 
‘‘(III) 
educational 
institution; 
and 
‘‘(IV) State of employment; and 
‘‘(ii) the disaggregated median annual 
earnings for each of the categories de-
scribed in subclauses (I) through (IV) of 
clause (i), further disaggregated for each 
of the following time periods: 
‘‘(I) 2 years after educational 
program completion. 
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‘‘(II) 6 years after educational 
program completion. 
‘‘(III) 15 years after educational 
program completion. 
‘‘(I) Other information determined nec-
essary by the Secretary. 
‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this sec-
tion, the Secretary shall consult extensively with 
State offices with existing, as of the date of the con-
sultation, student-level data collections from public 
and private institutions, particularly in the formula-
tion of the calculation and reporting standards out-
lined in this subsection and subsections (a) and (b), 
and the public access to data under subsection 
(e)(2). 
‘‘(4) GUIDELINES.—The Secretary shall issue 
guidelines to institutions of higher education regard-
ing the amendments needed to the annual privacy 
notices required under section 444(c)(3) of the Gen-
eral Education Provisions Act (commonly referred to 
as the ‘Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act 
of 1974’) of the institutions in order to reference the 
data collection required under this section. 
‘‘(d) UNAUTHORIZED USES.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any personally identifiable 
information collected for the data system under this 
section shall not be used for any use that is not ei-
ther specifically authorized by this section or per-
mitted as a disclosure under this section. 
‘‘(2) NO FEDERAL ACTION.—No action of Fed-
eral authority may be taken against an individual 
based on data collected for the data system devel-
oped under this section. No Federal agency, officer, 
or employee and no recipient of a Federal grant, 
contract, or cooperative agreement may, for any rea-
son, require the Secretary or any employee of the 
Secretary to disclose personally identifiable informa-
tion that has been collected or retained under this 
section. 
‘‘(3) IMMUNITY.—Personally identifiable infor-
mation collected or retained under this section shall 
be immune from legal process and shall not, without 
the consent of the individual concerned, be admitted 
as evidence or used for any purpose in any action, 
suit, or other judicial or administrative proceeding. 
‘‘(4) NO INSTITUTION ACTION.—An institution 
of higher education may not use the data system de-
veloped under this section, or data accessed through 
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such system, to take any action against an indi-
vidual. 
‘‘(5) APPLICATION.—This subsection shall not 
apply to requests for personally identifiable informa-
tion submitted by or on behalf of the individual iden-
tified in the information. Any such individual has 
the right to request and receive from the Secretary 
the data containing personally identifiable informa-
tion collected on the individual’s behalf, upon dem-
onstrating the individual’s identity to the satisfac-
tion of the Secretary. 
‘‘(e) PERMISSIBLE DISCLOSURES.— 
‘‘(1) DISCLOSURE
LIMITATION.—In carrying 
out the public reporting and disclosure requirements 
of this Act, the Secretary shall use appropriate sta-
tistical disclosure limitation techniques necessary 
such that the data released to the public cannot in-
clude personally identifiable information or be used 
to identify specific individuals. 
‘‘(2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
post the aggregate data collected under this 
section on a website of the Department in a 
timely and user-friendly manner. 
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‘‘(B) 
ADDITIONAL
RESEARCH
AVAIL-
ABILITY.—The Secretary may make available 
the non-personally identifiable data set used to 
prepare the data for the website in accordance 
with subparagraph (A) to researchers per-
forming studies or evaluations approved by the 
Secretary or the Director of the Institute of 
Education Sciences. 
‘‘(C) 
ENABLING
ADMINISTRATIVE
IM-
PROVEMENT BY INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDU-
CATION.—The Secretary shall create a process 
through which institutions of higher education 
participating in programs under this title and 
States may request and receive from the De-
partment aggregate student outcome data for 
the purposes of institutional improvement and 
program evaluation. The Secretary shall pro-
mulgate regulations to ensure fair and equitable 
access to such data. 
‘‘(3) NO SALE OF DATA.—The Secretary shall 
not sell any data collected under this section, includ-
ing the public use data set available under para-
graph (2)(B), to any third party. 
‘‘(f) ENSURING COMPARABILITY OF DATA METRIC.— 
For a period of 5 years following the date of enactment 
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of the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2015, 
the Secretary shall be responsible for publishing all stu-
dent-level components of IPEDS as such components 
would have been produced on the day before the date of 
enactment of the Student Right to Know Before You Go 
Act of 2015. 
‘‘(g) FELONY FOR WILLFUL DISCLOSURE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 
person who obtains or has access to personally iden-
tifiable information in connection with the data sys-
tem described in this section to willfully disclose 
such personally identifiable information, in any man-
ner, to any person that is not entitled to receive the 
information. 
‘‘(2) PENALTY.—Any person who violates para-
graph (1) shall be found guilty of a felony and im-
prisoned for not more than 5 years, or fined as spec-
ified in section 3571 of title 18, United States Code, 
or both. 
‘‘(h) PROTECTION OF DATA.—The Secretary shall 
promulgate and periodically review guidance and regula-
tions relating to security, which shall govern the access, 
use, and disclosure of data collected in connection with 
the activities authorized in this Act. The regulations devel-
oped and reviewed shall be consistent with the need to pro-
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