jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-10-29 00:00:00

State Loan Access and Student Protection Act - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to exempt certain state education loans from the requirement that when an institution of higher education (IHE) recommends, promotes, or endorses such loans, there need to be at least two unaffiliated lenders of those loans on the school's preferred lender list.

Conditions that exemption on the IHE:

 only recommending, promoting, or endorsing such loans by providing students and families with information about the loans and providing financial aid packages that include such loans to students who have previously been awarded such loans; using a form, to be developed by the Secretary of Education, to disclose the terms and conditions of such loans to borrowers and compare them to the terms and conditions of Direct loans under part D (William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program) of title IV; placing such loans on their preferred list only if the loans' terms and conditions are at least as favorable as the terms and conditions on Direct loans; and prominently disclosing to borrowers the methods and criteria it used in deciding to recommend, promote, or endorse such loans.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-10-30 00:00:00

Flexibility to Innovate for College Affordability Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to establish the Higher Education Regulatory Reform Task Force to prepare a report, that is to be submitted to Congress and made available on a publicly accessible website, on federal regulatory requirements for institutions of higher education (IHEs).

Requires the report to contain: (1) a list of rules that are determined to be outmoded, duplicative, ineffective, or excessively burdensome; (2) an analysis of how the costs of such rules outweigh their benefits; (3) recommendations to consolidate, modify, simplify, or repeal such rules and a description of the justification for and impact of such recommendations; and (4) recommendations on establishing a permanent entity to review new regulatory requirements affecting IHEs.

Requires the President to submit to Congress a legislative proposal for carrying out some or all of the recommendations contained in the report.

Establishes congressional procedures to expedite consideration of the President's proposal.

Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary to waive certain statutory or regulatory requirements under title IV to allow IHEs participating in the experimental sites initiative to increase the maximum federal Pell Grant and loan award amounts for students in proportion to the amount that their workload exceeds the minimum full-time academic workload. (The experimental sites initiative was established to test the effectiveness of providing participating IHEs with statutory and regulatory flexibility in awarding and disbursing student aid under title IV.)

Authorizes the waiver of statutory and regulatory requirements under title IV that might bias the results of experiments carried out by IHEs under the initiative to provide title IV assistance to: (1) students enrolled in remedial courses or competency-based learning programs, which are not accredited but are approved by the IHE and provide competencies for success in certain programs of study at the IHE; (2) students to pay test fees if the students could be awarded academic credit for prior learning based on the test results; and (3) secondary school students enrolled in courses at the IHE.

Requires the IHEs to demonstrate to the Secretary that these waivers would reduce the total cost of attendance for participating students.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-10-30 00:00:00

Put School Counselors Where They're Needed Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to implement a demonstration project providing competitive, 4-year grants to at least 10 secondary schools that have a 4-year adjusted cohort graduation rate of 60% or lower, for the provision of additional school counselors and counselor resources.

Expresses the sense of Congress that grantees should provide one additional counselor for every 250 students at risk.

Requires the additional school counselors to serve primarily students identified as being at risk of not graduating in four years.

Makes grantees that demonstrate progress in improving their graduation rates eligible for subsequent grants.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2013-10-30 00:00:00

College Affordability Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to replace the Hope Scholarship and Lifetime Learning tax credits with a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that allows: (1) a 100% income tax credit, up to $2,500 in a taxable year, of the qualified tuition and related expenses (i.e., tuition, fees, and course materials) of a student at an institution of higher education who is carrying at least one half of a normal full-time work load; (2) a life-time aggregate credit amount of up to $10,000; and (3) refundability of a portion of such credit. Denies such credit to students who are convicted of a federal or state felony offense involving the possession or distribution of a controlled substance.

Allows an exclusion from gross income of any amount received as a Federal Pell Grant.

Establishes programs for: (1) periodic payments to students as qualified expenses are incurred during the taxable year, and (2) informing the public of the availability of the American Opportunity Tax Credit.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2013-10-30 00:00:00

Spouses of Heroes Education Act - Entitles to post-9/11 veterans' educational assistance the spouse (under current law, only the child) of a person who, on or after September 11, 2001, dies in the line of duty while serving on active duty as a member of the Armed Forces. Terminates such spouse's entitlement on the earlier of: (1) the date that is 15 years after the date on which the member died, and (2) the date of the spouse's remarriage.

Requires an individual entitled to such assistance and also to veterans' educational assistance under the Montgomery GI Bill to elect a single coverage.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-11-12 00:00:00

FAFSA Fairness Act of 2013 - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of Education to disclose, on the form notifying students of their expected family contribution, the special circumstances under which students may qualify as independent for purposes of the determination regarding their need and eligibility for title IV assistance.

Allows students who may qualify as independent on the basis of those special circumstances to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as independent students for purposes of the initial determination of their title IV assistance by a financial aid administrator at an institution of higher education to which they are applying.

Requires the financial aid administrators to: (1) provide those students with an initial determination regarding their title IV assistance in the same manner as, and by no later than the date that, they provide other independent students with that determination; and (2) use, in making a final determination regarding that assistance, the discretion provided to them under title IV to verify whether such students meet the special circumstances to qualify as independent students.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2013-11-12 00:00:00

Prohibits the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) or a state approving agency from approving a program of education offered by an educational institution for purposes of an educational assistance program for veterans or members of the Selected Reserve or the Ready Reserve of the Armed Forces unless any such institution that administers a priority enrollment system allows an eligible veteran, member, or dependent to enroll in courses at the earliest possible time.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-11-14 00:00:00

Protecting Our Students and Taxpayers Act of 2013 or the POST Act of 2013 - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require proprietary institutions of higher education to derive at least 15% of their revenue from sources other than federal funds or become ineligible for title IV funding. (Currently, the 90/10 rule requires these schools to derive at least 10% of their revenue from sources other than title IV or become ineligible for title IV funding.)

Defines "federal funds" as federal financial assistance provided through a grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, or other means to a proprietary institution, including federal financial assistance that is provided to an institution on behalf of a student or to a student to attend the institution. Excludes monthly housing stipends provided under the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance program from consideration as federal funds.

Limits what a proprietary institution may treat as revenue to the school in calculating whether it derives at least 15% of its revenue from non-federal funds.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-11-15 00:00:00

Technology, Equality and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act or the TEACH Act - Directs the Access Board to develop accessibility guidelines for electronic instructional materials and related information technologies in institutions of higher education (IHEs).

Requires those guidelines to: (1) include performance criteria to ensure that electronic instructional materials and related information technologies are accessible to the blind and disabled; (2) be consistent with the standards for technical and functional performance criteria issued pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and (3) be, to the extent practicable, consistent with national and international accessibility standards for those materials and technologies.

Directs the Access Board to review and, as appropriate, amend the guidelines every three years to reflect technological advances or changes in electronic instructional materials and related information technologies.

Deems IHEs that use electronic instructional materials and related information technologies that comply with the guidelines to be in compliance with nondiscrimination provisions under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-11-15 00:00:00

Stopping Unfair Collateral Consequences from Ending Student Success Act or the SUCCESS Act - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to repeal a provision which makes persons convicted of drug offenses while receiving any grant, loan, or work assistance under title IV ineligible for that assistance for specified periods.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-11-19 00:00:00

Affordable College Textbook Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to make competitive grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) to support pilot programs that expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve savings for students.

Requires the grants to be used for:

 professional development for IHE faculty and staff, including the search for and review of open textbooks; the creation or adaptation of open educational resources, especially open textbooks; the development or improvement of tools and informational resources that support the use of open textbooks; research evaluating the efficacy of using open textbooks to achieve savings for students; and partnerships with other entities to carry out the preceding activities. Requires the full and complete digital content of the educational resources created or adopted using such grant funds to be made available free of charge to the public: (1) on an easily accessible and interoperable website; and (2) in a machine readable, digital format that anyone can directly download, edit, and redistribute.

Directs the Secretary to give special consideration to grant applicants that demonstrate the greatest potential to:

 achieve the highest level of savings for students; expand the use of open textbooks at other IHEs; and produce open textbooks that are of the highest quality, that can be most easily utilized and adapted by faculty members, that correspond to the highest enrollment courses, and that are created or adopted in partnership with entities that will assist in their marketing and distribution. Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include any educational material developed to accompany a college textbook as supplemental material that is subject to college textbook information disclosure requirements.

Expresses the sense of Congress that IHEs should encourage the consideration of open textbooks by faculty within the generally accepted principles of academic freedom that establish the right and responsibility of faculty members to select the most appropriate course materials for their classes.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: International affairs
Date: 2013-11-21 00:00:00

Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act - (Sec. 3) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) every individual, regardless of gender, should have the opportunity to pursue an education free from the fear of discrimination; (2) educational exchanges promote institutional linkages between the United States and Pakistan; and (3) recipients of scholarships under the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program (Program) should commit to improving their local communities. (The Program awards scholarships for university study to academically talented, financially needy Pakistani students.)

Encourages the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to continue to support Pakistani education initiatives, especially those for women.

(Sec. 4) Directs the USAID Administrator to award at least 50% of the scholarships available under the Program to women for each of calendar years 2014-2016.

Requires the scholarships to be awarded: (1) in accordance with existing scholarship criteria, and (2) for a range of disciplines to improve the employability of graduates and to meet the needs of the scholarship recipients.

 Directs the USAID Administrator to: (1) make every effort to award 50% of the scholarships available under the Program to Pakistani women; and (2) consult with, and leverage investments by, the Pakistani private sector and Pakistani diaspora communities in the United States to improve, expand, and sustain education programs in Pakistan.

(Sec. 5) Requires the USAID to brief Congress, annually for the next four years, on the implementation of this Act's requirements, including specified information regarding Program scholarships.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-11-21 00:00:00

Know Before You Owe Private Student Loan Act of 2013 - Amends the Truth in Lending Act to require a lender, before issuing a private education loan for a student attending an institution of higher education (IHE), to obtain the IHE's certification of: (1) the student's enrollment status, (2) the student's cost of attendance, and (3) the difference between that cost and the student's estimated financial assistance. Eliminates the requirement that such lenders obtain a self-certification form from the private education loan applicant.

Allows a lender to issue such loan without a certification if there is no response from the relevant IHE within 15 business days of the lender's request for the certification.

Requires private educational lenders to: (1) send loan statements to borrowers at least once every three months a student is enrolled at an IHE; (2) notify the relevant IHE, in writing, of the loan amount and the student to whom it applies no later than the date funds are issued; and (3) submit an annual report to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) containing information the CFPB requires concerning private student loans.

Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require IHEs, before providing lenders with certifications, to determine whether students have exhausted their options for title IV assistance and notify borrowers of: (1) the availability of such assistance, (2) their ability to choose their own private educational lender, (3) the impact of the proposed private education loan on their eligibility for other financial assistance, and (4) their right to accept or reject a private education loan within 30 days of the lender's approval of their application and to cancel the loan within 3 business days of its consummation.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-12-10 00:00:00

STEM Gateways Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to award competitive grants to eligible entities for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) elementary and secondary school programs for women and girls, underrepresented minorities, and individuals from all economic backgrounds.

Requires those programs to be directed toward at least one of the following goals:

 encouraging the interest of elementary and secondary school students in the STEM fields; motivating the engagement of those students in the STEM fields by providing them with relevant hands-on learning opportunities; supporting classroom success in the STEM disciplines by elementary and secondary school students; supporting STEM workforce training and career preparation for secondary school students; and improving the access of secondary school students to STEM career and continuing education opportunities. Defines an "eligible entity" as: (1) a local educational agency (LEA); (2) an educational service agency serving more than one LEA; (3) a consortium of LEAs; (4) nonprofit organizations that work with elementary schools, secondary schools, or institutions of higher education and have shown a commitment to achieving the goals listed above; or (5) community colleges working in partnership with secondary schools to create dual enrollment, credit transfer, or accelerated postsecondary credentialing opportunities.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-12-11 00:00:00

Net Price Calculator Improvement Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish the minimum requirements for the net price calculator that each institution of higher education (IHE) receiving federal funds under title IV (Student Assistance) of the Act must include on its website. (An IHE's "net price" is the average yearly price actually charged to first-time, full-time undergraduate students receiving student aid at the school after deducting such aid.)

Requires the link for the calculator to be clearly labeled and conspicuously posted on an IHE's website.

Requires each calculator's results page to include:

 the net price of attending the IHE; the cost of attending the IHE; the estimated total need- and merit-based grant aid, from federal, state, and institutional sources, that may be available to first-time, full-time undergraduate students enrolled at the IHE; the percentage of such students enrolled at the school who receive any of that grant aid; and a notice that an estimate of an individual's net price is non-binding and subject to change. Requires calculators that estimate a user's eligibility for veterans' education benefits or educational benefits for active duty service members to clearly distinguish those benefits from other grant-aid. Requires calculators that do not make such estimates to provide users with notice of, and a link to information concerning, those benefits.

Directs IHEs to populate their calculators with data from not later than two academic years prior to the most recent academic year.

Requires the calculators to: (1) clearly indicate which questions need to be completed for a net price estimate, (2) clearly mark requests for contact information as optional, and (3) prohibit personally identifiable information from being sold or made available to third parties.

Authorizes the Secretary of Education to develop a universal net price calculator that enables users to answer one set of questions and receive net prices for any IHE that is required to have a net price calculator.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2014-01-10 00:00:00

Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include foreign income that is excluded for the purposes of federal income taxes in the determination of a student's need for assistance under title IV.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2014-01-10 00:00:00

Directs the Secretary of Education to study and report on the feasibility and advantages and disadvantages of using individual income tax returns as the primary form of application for student aid under the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2014-01-10 00:00:00

Veteran Tax Parity Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income imputed income from the discharge of student loan indebtedness of a veteran with a service-connected total disability that is determined to be permanent in nature.
Topic: Education — Higher
Subject: Education
Date: 2014-01-15 00:00:00

Student Loan Borrowers' Bill of Rights Act of 2013 - Removes educational loans from the list of debts that are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to reinstate the six-year statute of limitations on the recovery by:

 institutions of higher education (IHEs) of refund amounts owed by students on grants made, or work assistance awarded, under title IV; guaranty agencies of amounts owed on loans made under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program; IHEs that have program participation agreements with the Secretary of Education of amounts owed under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan program or Federal Perkins Loans program; and the federal government of amounts owed by students on grants made under title IV or amounts owed by borrowers on loans made under title IV that have been assigned to the Secretary. Prohibits the collection of amounts individuals owe the Department of Education under title IV of the HEA through: (1) offsets of social security, railroad retirement, or black lung benefits; (2) offsets of tax refunds; or (3) wage garnishment.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude discharged student loan debt from an individual's gross income.

Excludes from gross income distributions from qualified tuition plans that are use to pay the interest or principal on student loans.

Amends the HEA to make borrowers of PLUS loans made on behalf of dependent students under:

 the Direct Loan program eligible for income-contingent repayment plans, including plans based on the President's Pay As You Earn repayment initiative; the Direct Loan or FFEL programs eligible for income-based repayment plans that enable borrowers who have a partial financial hardship to make lower monthly payments; and the Direct Loan or FFEL programs eligible for loan forgiveness for service in areas of national need. Specifies the regulation to be used in determining whether individuals have an adverse credit history that disqualifies them from borrowing a Direct Plus loan (provided to graduate or professional students or the parents of dependent students).

Prohibits evidence of an individual's default on a loan made, insured, or guaranteed under title IV of the HEA from being used in a federal or state proceeding involving the individual's professional or vocational license.

Prohibits an IHE from blocking students' access to their student records at the IHE due to such students being in default on such loans.

Directs the Secretary to cancel 50% of the balance of the interest and principal due on Direct loans that are not in default for borrowers who are employed in a public service job and make 60 monthly payments on such loans after October 1, 2013.