I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2913
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 regarding distance education, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 25, 2003
Mr. ANDREWS (for himself and Mr. KILDEE) 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 regarding 
distance education, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Distance Education and 
Online Learning Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. STUDENT ELIGIBILITY. 
Section 484(l)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1091(l)(1)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A)—
(A) by striking ‘‘in whole or in part’’ and 
inserting ‘‘predominantly’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘of 1 year or longer’’; and 
(C) by striking ‘‘unless’’ and all that fol-
lows through ‘‘all courses at the institution’’; 
and 
(2) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—An institution of 
higher education referred to in subparagraph 
(A) is an institution of higher education that is 
not an institution or school described in section 
3(3)(C) of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and 
Technical Education Act of 1998.’’. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE PROGRAM. 
Section 481(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1088(b)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(3) DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A program that is of-
fered predominantly through distance education 
methods and processes (other than correspond-
ence courses) is an eligible program for pur-
poses of this title if—
‘‘(i) the program was reviewed and 
approved by an accrediting agency or asso-
ciation that—
‘‘(I) is recognized by the Sec-
retary under subpart 2 of part H; and 
‘‘(II) has evaluation of distance 
education programs within the scope 
of its recognition; and 
‘‘(ii) the institution offering the pro-
gram complies with clause (i) or clause (ii) 
of subparagraph (B). 
‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL CRITERIA BASED ON DU-
RATION OF CERTIFICATION.—
‘‘(i) CERTIFIED
FOR
AT
LEAST
YEARS.—An institution complies with this 
clause if the institution has been certified 
as eligible to participate in programs under 
this title for at least four years and—
‘‘(I) has not had its participation 
in programs under this title limited, 
suspended, or terminated within the 
preceding 5 years; 
‘‘(II) has not had or failed to re-
solve an audit finding or program re-
view finding under this Act during the
preceding 2 years that resulted in the 
institution being required to repay an 
amount that is greater than 5 percent 
of the total funds the institution re-
ceived under the programs authorized 
by this title for any award year cov-
ered by the audit or program review; 
‘‘(III) has not been found by the 
Secretary during the preceding 5 
years to be in material noncompliance 
with the provisions of this Act related 
to the submission of acceptable and 
timely audit reports required under 
this title; and 
‘‘(IV) is determined to be finan-
cially responsible under regulations 
promulgated by the Secretary pursu-
ant to section 498(c). 
‘‘(ii) CERTIFIED
FOR
LESS
THAN
YEARS.—An institution complies with this 
clause if the institution has been certified 
as eligible to participate in programs under 
this title for less than four years, meets 
the requirements of clause (i), and—
‘‘(I) the institution has not been 
subject to any action to suspend, re-
voke, withdraw, or terminate its au-
thority to operate by a state; 
‘‘(II) the institution has not been 
subject to any action to suspend, re-
voke, withdraw, or terminate its ac-
creditation and has not been placed 
on probation or an equivalent status 
by a recognized accrediting agency; 
‘‘(III) neither the institution nor 
any person who exercises substantial 
control over the institution have been 
administratively or judicially deter-
mined to have committed fraud or any 
other material violation of law involv-
ing the use of federal, state or local 
government funds; and 
‘‘(IV) no person who exercises 
substantial control over the institution 
has been directly or indirectly affili-
ated with an institution that has lost 
or been denied accreditation, has lost 
or been denied authority to operate by 
a state, has lost or been denied eligi-
bility to participate in programs au-
thorized under this title, has filed for 
bankruptcy, or has closed owing a li-
ability for a program requirement 
under this Act. 
‘‘(C) CONSEQUENCES OF WITHDRAWL OF 
APPROVAL.—If the accreditation agency or as-
sociation withdraws approval of the program 
described in subparagraph (A)(i), or the institu-
tion fails to meet any of the requirements de-
scribed in clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (B) 
(whichever is applicable), or both, then the pro-
gram shall cease to be an eligible program at 
the end of the award year in which such with-
drawal of approval or failure to meet such re-
quirements occurs. The program shall not be an 
eligible program for any subsequent award year 
until the institution obtains such approval or 
corrects such failure, or both.’’. 
SEC. 4. RECOGNITION OF ACCREDITING AGENCY OR ASSO-
CIATION. 
Section 496 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1099b) is amended—
(1) in subsection (n)(3), by striking the last 
sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘If the agency