I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2460 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to authorize borrowers to 
separate joint consolidation loans. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 13, 2021 
Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. MURPHY of North Carolina, 
and Ms. STEVENS) 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 authorize 
borrowers to separate joint consolidation loans. 
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 ‘‘Joint Consolidation 
Loan Separation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SEPARATING JOINT CONSOLIDATION LOANS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 455(g) of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(g)) is amend-
ed— 
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‘‘(ii) SEPARATE
APPLICATION.—An 
individual borrower in a married couple (or 
previously married couple) may apply for a 
separate consolidation loan under subpara-
graph (A) separately and without regard to 
whether or when the other individual bor-
rower in the married couple (or previously 
married couple) applies under subpara-
graph (A), in a case in which— 
‘‘(I) the individual borrower has 
experienced from the other individual 
borrower— 
‘‘(aa) domestic violence (as 
defined in section 40002(a) of 
the Violence Against Women Act 
of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13925(a))); 
or 
‘‘(bb) economic abuse (in-
cluding behaviors that control 
such borrower’s ability to ac-
quire, use, and maintain access 
to money, credit, or the joint fi-
nancial obligations of both bor-
rowers); 
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‘‘(II) the individual borrower cer-
tifies, on a form approved by the Sec-
retary, that such borrower is unable 
to reasonably reach or access the loan 
information of the other individual 
borrower; or 
‘‘(III) the Secretary determines 
that authorizing each individual bor-
rower to apply separately under sub-
paragraph (A) would be in the best 
fiscal interests of the Federal Govern-
ment.’’. 
(b) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 
428C(a)(3)(B)(i)(V) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1078–3(3)(B)(i)(V)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of item (bb); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of item 
(cc) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(dd) for the purpose of sep-
arating a joint consolidation loan 
into 2 separate Federal Direct 
Consolidation Loans under sec-
tion 455(g)(2), except that such 
separated Federal Direct Consoli-
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dation Loan may not consolidate 
such loan with the loans de-
scribed in section 428C(a)(4).’’. 
Æ 
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