Title: Protecting Students from Worthless Degrees Act
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Protecting Students from Worthless Degrees Act
This bill makes a postsecondary program designed to prepare students for a recognized occupation or profession requiring licensing or other entry pre-conditions ineligible to participate in a federal financial assistance program, unless it meets specified student consumer protection requirements within one year.
Each program must: (1) fully prepare students to satisfy those entry pre-conditions in the metropolitan statistical areas and states in which the students reside and in any state the program claims a successful program graduate will be prepared to work in the particular occupation or profession involved; and (2) provide timely placement of students in required pre-licensure positions, such as clinical placements, internships, or apprenticeships.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3371 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3371

             To provide consumer protections for students.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            August 23, 2018

Mr. Merkley (for himself and Mr. Durbin) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
             To provide consumer protections for students.

    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 ``Protecting Students from Worthless 
Degrees Act''.

SEC. 2. CONSUMER PROTECTIONS FOR STUDENTS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Federal financial assistance program.--The term 
        ``Federal financial assistance program'' means a program 
        authorized and funded by the Federal Government under any of 
        the following provisions of law:
                    (A) Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
                (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.).
                    (B) Title I of the Workforce Innovation and 
                Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3111 et seq.) and title I of 
                the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2801 et 
                seq.).
                    (C) The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (29 
                U.S.C. 3271 et seq.).
                    (D) Chapter 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, or 35 of title 38, 
                United States Code.
                    (E) Chapter 101, 105, 106A, 1606, 1607, or 1608 of 
                title 10, United States Code.
                    (F) Section 1784a, 2005, or 2007 of title 10, 
                United States Code.
            (2) Institution of higher education.--The term 
        ``institution of higher education''--
                    (A) with respect to a program authorized under 
                paragraph (1)(A), has the meaning given the term in 
                section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
                U.S.C. 1002);
                    (B) with respect to--
                            (i) a program authorized under title I of 
                        the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 
                        2801 et seq.), has the meaning given the term 
                        ``postsecondary educational institution'' as 
                        defined in section 101 of the Workforce 
                        Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2801), on the 
                        day before the date of enactment of the 
                        Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 
                        (Public Law 113-128); and
                            (ii) a program authorized under title I of 
                        the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 
                        (29 U.S.C. 3111 et seq.), has the meaning given 
                        the term in section 3 of the Workforce 
                        Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 
                        3102);
                    (C) with respect to a program authorized under 
                paragraph (1)(C), has the meaning given the term 
                ``postsecondary educational institution'' as defined in 
                section 203 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy 
                Act (29 U.S.C. 3272);
                    (D) with respect to a program authorized under 
                paragraph (1)(D), has the meaning given the term 
                ``educational institution'' under section 3452 of title 
                38, United States Code;
                    (E) with respect to a program authorized under 
                paragraph (1)(E), means an educational institution that 
                awards a degree or certificate and is located in any 
                State; and
                    (F) with respect to a program authorized under 
                paragraph (1)(F), means an educational institution that 
                awards a degree or certificate and is located in any 
                State.
            (3) State.--
                    (A) State.--The term ``State'' includes, in 
                addition to the several States of the United States, 
                the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of 
                Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, the United States 
                Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern 
                Mariana Islands, and the freely associated States.
                    (B) Freely associated states.--The term ``freely 
                associated States'' means the Republic of the Marshall 
                Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the 
                Republic of Palau.
    (b) Consumer Protections.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, an institution of higher education is not eligible to participate 
in a Federal financial assistance program with respect to any program 
of postsecondary education or training, including a degree or 
certificate program, that is designed to prepare students for entry 
into a recognized occupation or profession that requires licensing or 
other established requirements as a pre-condition for entry into such 
occupation or profession, unless, by not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act--
            (1) the successful completion of the program fully 
        qualifies a student, in the Metropolitan Statistical Area and 
        State in which the student resides (and in any State in which 
        the institution indicates, through advertising or marketing 
        activities or direct contact with potential students, that a 
        student will be prepared to work in the occupation or 
        profession after successfully completing the program), to--
                    (A) take any examination required for entry into 
                the recognized occupation or profession in the 
                Metropolitan Statistical Area and State in which the 
                student resides, including satisfying all Federal, 
                State, or professionally mandated programmatic and 
                specialized accreditation requirements, if any; and
                    (B) be certified or licensed or meet any other 
                academically related pre-conditions that are required 
                for entry into the recognized occupation or profession 
                in the State; and
            (2) the institution offering the program provides timely 
        placement for all of the academically related pre-licensure 
        requirements for entry into the recognized occupation or 
        profession, such as clinical placements, internships, or 
        apprenticeships.

SEC. 3. CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS.

    Section 487 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(30) The institution will provide to the Secretary not 
        later than the first December 31 following the date of 
        enactment of Protecting Students from Worthless Degrees Act, in 
        accordance with procedures established by the Secretary, a 
        certification signed by the most senior executive officer of 
        the institution that each of the eligible gainful employment 
        programs included on the eligibility and certification approval 
        report of the institution meets the requirements of subsection 
        (k).''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Certification Requirements for GE Programs.--Each of the 
eligible gainful employment programs included on the eligibility and 
certification approval report of an institution of higher education 
shall comply with each of the following:
            ``(1) The gainful employment program is approved by a 
        recognized accrediting agency or is otherwise included in the 
        institution's accreditation by its recognized accrediting 
        agency, or, if the institution is a public postsecondary 
        vocational institution, the program is approved by a recognized 
        State agency for the approval of public postsecondary 
        vocational education in lieu of accreditation.
            ``(2) The gainful employment program is programmatically 
        accredited, if such accreditation is required by a Federal 
        governmental entity or by a governmental entity in the State in 
        which the institution is located or in which the institution is 
        otherwise required to obtain State approval pursuant to section 
        600.9 of title 34, Code of Federal Regulations, or a similar 
        successor regulation.
            ``(3) The gainful employment program satisfies the 
        applicable educational prerequisites for professional licensure 
        or certification requirements in the State in which the 
        institution is located or in which the institution is otherwise 
        required to obtain State approval pursuant to section 600.9 of 
        title 34, Code of Federal Regulations, or a similar successor 
        regulation, so that a student who completes the program and 
        seeks employment in such a State qualifies to take any 
        licensure or certification exam that is needed for the student 
        to practice or find employment in an occupation that the 
        program prepares students to enter.
            ``(4) The gainful employment program is not substantially 
        similar to a program offered by the institution that, in any of 
        the 3 years prior to the date of the determination, became 
        ineligible for funding under this title due to the debt to 
        earning rates measure or was failing, or in the zone with 
        respect to, the debt to earning rates measure and was 
        voluntarily discontinued by the institution. The institution 
        shall include with its certification an explanation of how the 
        gainful employment program is not substantially similar to any 
        such ineligible or discontinued program.''.
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