Financial Fitness Act
Bill: H.R.5779 | Sponsor: Rep. Leger Fernandez, Teresa (D-NM)
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Financial Fitness Act
This bill directs the Department of Education to create a personal finance education portal for voluntary use by recipients of federal financial aid. The portal must be on a centralized and publicly available website and include information on personal finance concepts, including core personal finance topics (e.g., earning, investing, and borrowing) and managing student loan repayment.

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of 
     Education to create a personal finance education portal on a 
   centralized website of the Department of Education pertaining to 
                         Federal financial aid.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Financial Fitness Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Nearly 43,000,000 people owe an average of $36,406 in 
        Federal student loans, and student loan debt in the United 
        States totals $1,730,000,000,000, growing 6 times faster than 
        the Nation's economy.
            (2) Student debt has significant racial equity 
        implications. Almost half of Black college students are using 
        Federal student loans to cover educational costs, and Black 
        college graduates are still substantially more likely than 
        white college graduates to default on their debt within 4 years 
        of graduation (7.6 percent versus 2.4 percent of white 
        graduates). In addition, 4 years after graduation, 48 percent 
        of Black students owe an average of 12.5 percent more than they 
        borrowed. Students who are veterans, parents, first-generation 
        college students, or low income are also likely to face higher 
        risk of default.
            (3) Since before the COVID-19 pandemic, about 23 percent of 
        Hispanic and Latino college graduates who had taken out loans 
        for tuition and school expenses were behind on their payments, 
        in contrast with 6 percent of white student borrowers. Hispanic 
        and Latino borrowers also were the most likely to delay getting 
        married and having children due to student loan debt.
            (4) Native American financial status remains among the 
        lowest of all minority populations in the Nation. Native people 
        are the least likely of all population groups, including other 
        minorities, to plan for retirement, have an emergency fund, or 
        have a checking account. Native American and Alaska Native 
        borrowers take on student loan debt at a rate higher than the 
        overall population, 76 percent compared to 69 percent.
            (5) Among college graduates with any outstanding debt for 
        their education, first-generation college graduates tend to owe 
        more. About two-thirds of first-generation college graduates 
        owe at least $25,000 or more, compared with 57 percent of 
        second-generation college graduates, and 200,000 United States 
        service members owe nearly $3,000,000,000 in student loans.
            (6) Student debt among older adults has steadily increased, 
        with many individuals taking on debt to finance higher 
        education for their children and grandchildren.
            (7) Despite the fact that many students and families must 
        make substantial and highly consequential decisions about 
        student loan borrowing and face growing college affordability 
        challenges, less than half of States make personal finance a 
        core part of basic education.
            (8) Just over 2 in 10 non-retirees under age 45 have 
        retirement savings that meet their age-specific thresholds. 42 
        percent of Americans age 18-29 have no retirement savings; 26 
        percent of those age 30-44; 17 percent of those age 45-59; and 
        13 percent of those over age 60.
            (9) People with self-directed retirement savings (nearly 7 
        in 10 non-retired adults) must make decisions about how the 
        money is invested. Six in 10 non-retirees with these self-
        directed accounts express low levels of comfort in making 
        investment decisions with their retirement savings.
            (10) The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the need to provide 
        families with better tools to weather financial challenges, 
        with a rapid spike in unemployment occurring in mid-2020, along 
        with significant shifts to individuals' housing and 
        transportation needs.
            (11) Nearly 1 in 10 student loan borrowers end up in 
        default, and even more struggle to repay their loans, 
        indicating an important need to ensure borrowers can access 
        information to help them navigate repayment and succeed 
        financially.

SEC. 3. PERSONAL FINANCE EDUCATION PORTAL.

    Section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(n) Personal Finance Education Portal.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the 
        Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the 
        Secretary of the Treasury as chair of the Financial Literacy 
        and Education Commission, and the Commissioner of Internal 
        Revenue, shall create a personal finance education portal on a 
        centralized and publicly available website of the Department 
        pertaining to Federal financial aid for the voluntary use by 
        recipients of aid awarded under this title.
            ``(2) Content of personal finance education portal.--The 
        personal finance education portal created under paragraph (1) 
        shall include information on personal finance concepts, 
        including the following:
                    ``(A) Core personal finance concepts, such as 
                earning, saving, investing, spending, and borrowing, 
                including--
                            ``(i) the concept of compound growth as it 
                        applies to savings and retirement savings, with 
                        information about the different types of 
                        retirement savings accounts; and
                            ``(ii) budgeting and credit usage.
                    ``(B) Managing student loan repayment, including--
                            ``(i) the interaction between savings and 
                        retirement decisions and Federal student loan 
                        repayment plans;
                            ``(ii) Federal student loan discharge or 
                        forgiveness options;
                            ``(iii) the types of voluntary benefits 
                        employers may use to help workers while they 
                        are paying down student loan debt;
                            ``(iv) tax credits or deductions that are 
                        relevant to student loan borrowers in 
                        repayment; and
                            ``(v) any other Federal policies that 
                        significantly impact student loan borrowers in 
                        repayment, as determined by the Secretary.
                    ``(C) Any other personal finance concepts 
                determined relevant by the Secretary, in consultation 
                with the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial 
                Protection, the Secretary of the Treasury as chair of 
                the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, and 
                the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
            ``(3) Provision of content.--The personal finance content 
        included under paragraph (2) may be provided in an interactive 
        format through text or video.
            ``(4) Analytics.--The Secretary, in consultation with the 
        Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the 
        Secretary of the Treasury as chair of the Financial Literacy 
        and Education Commission, and the Commissioner of Internal 
        Revenue, shall review not less than once every three years the 
        utilization of the portal and make such findings publicly 
        available.
            ``(5) Authorization of appropriations.--There are 
        authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to 
        carry out the purposes of this subsection.''.
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