Mel’s Law

Bill: 119-hr-468
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Velázquez, Nydia M. [D-NY-7]
Introduced: 2025-01-15
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Higher education

School administration

Student records
Latest action: action_date: 2025-01-15
text: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Summaries:
action_date: 2025-01-15
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Mel's Law</strong></p><p>This bill requires institutions of higher education (IHEs) that participate in federal student aid programs to establish policies for awarding posthumous degrees.</p><p>Specifically, the IHE must certify that it has a policy to award a posthumous degree to a deceased student who (1) was enrolled in a degree program at the IHE; (2) died prior to completing such program; and (3) at the time of death, was in academic standing consistent with the requirements for graduation from such program (as determined by the IHE).</p><p>The bill prohibits accrediting agencies from taking into consideration the number of posthumous degrees awarded to deceased students by the&nbsp;IHE. (Under current law, an IHE must be accredited by an accrediting agency to participate in federal student aid programs.)</p>

tv_txt: I 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 468 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 15, 2025 Ms. Velázquez (for herself, Ms. Malliotakis , Mr. Espaillat , Mr. Tonko , Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick , and Mrs. McIver ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education, as a condition of participation in programs under title IV of such Act, to establish a policy to award posthumous degrees to certain deceased students, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as Mel’s Law . 2. Requirement to award posthumous degrees (a) Posthumous degrees Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1094(a) ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (30) The institution certifies that the institution has established a policy to award posthumous degrees to deceased students who— (A) had been enrolled in a degree program at the institution; (B) died prior to completing such program; and (C) at the time of death, were in academic standing consistent with the requirements for graduation from such program, as determined by the institution. . (b) Accreditation criteria Section 496(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1099b(a) ) is amended— (1) by redesignating paragraphs (6) through (8) as paragraphs (7) through (9), respectively; and (2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following: (6) the standards for accreditation of the agency or association do not take into consideration the number of posthumous degrees awarded by the institution to deceased students; . (c) Effective date The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.