S. 2863 — Introduced in Senate

II 113th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 2863 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES September 18, 2014Mr. Flake (for himself, Mr. McCain, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Isakson, and Mr. Scott) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To require the Secretary of Education to complete a data analysis on the impact of the proposed rule on gainful employment prior to issuing a final rule on gainful employment. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Transparency in Education Act. 2. Data analysis requirement for final rule on gainful employment (a) In general The Secretary of Education shall not issue a final rule or otherwise implement the proposed rule published by the Department of Education in the notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on March 25, 2014 (79 Fed. Reg. 16426 et seq.), or any other proposed rule that amends parts 600 or 668 of title 34, Code of Federal Regulations, with respect to gainful employment programs, until 90 days after— (1) the Secretary of Education publishes a complete data analysis— (A) on the impact of such proposed rule (including the debt-to-earnings and programmatic cohort default rate measures) on all postsecondary education programs and students at all categories of institutions of higher education that participate in a program under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.), including the impact on— (i) students who receive Federal Pell Grants under section 401 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a); (ii) minority students; (iii) students over age 24; (iv) students who are veterans; (v) independent students; and (vi) dependent students; and (B) in a format similar to the Gainful Employment 2012 Informational Rate Calculations published by the Department of Education; and (2) the Comptroller General of the United States issues a report that reviews such data analysis for data accuracy and completeness. (b) Definitions For purposes of this section: (1) Independent student The term independent student has the meaning given the term in section 480(d) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087vv(d)). (2) Institution of higher education The term institution of higher education has the meaning given the term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002), except that the term does not include institutions described in subparagraph (C) of such section 102(a)(1). (3) Veteran The term veteran has the meaning given the term in section 480(c) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087vv(c)).