[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1445 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1445

 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to expand the opportunities 
              for higher education via telecommunications.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 21, 2001

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to expand the opportunities 
              for higher education via telecommunications.

    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 ``Internet Equity and Education Act of 
2001''.

SEC. 2. EXCEPTION TO 50 PERCENT CORRESPONDENCE COURSE LIMITATIONS.

    (a) Definition of Institution of Higher Education for Title IV 
Purposes.--Section 102(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1002(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(7) Exception to limitation based on course of study.--
        Courses offered via telecommunications (as defined in section 
        484(l)(4)) shall not be considered to be correspondence courses 
        for purposes of paragraph (3)(A) for any institution that--
                    ``(A) is participating in either or both of the 
                loan programs under part B or D of title IV on the date 
                of enactment of the Internet Equity and Education Act 
                of 2001; and
                    ``(B) has a cohort default rate (as determined 
                under section 435(m)) for each of the 3 most recent 
                fiscal years for which data are available that is less 
                than 10 percent.''.
    (b) Definition of Eligible Student.--Section 484(l)(1) of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1091(l)(1)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) Exception to 50 percent limitation.--
                Notwithstanding the 50 percent limitation in 
                subparagraph (A), a student enrolled in a course of 
                instruction described in such subparagraph shall not be 
                considered to be enrolled in correspondence courses if 
                the student is enrolled in an institution that--
                            ``(i) is participating in either or both of 
                        the loan programs under part B or D of title IV 
                        on the date of enactment of the Internet Equity 
                        and Education Act of 2001; and
                            ``(ii) has a cohort default rate (as 
                        determined under section 435(m)) for each of 
                        the 3 most recent fiscal years for which data 
                        are available that is less than 10 percent.''.

SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF ACADEMIC YEAR.

    Section 481(a)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1088(a)(2)) is amended by inserting after the first sentence the 
following: ``For purposes of any program under this title (whether a 
standard or nonstandard term program), a ``week of instruction'' is 
defined as a week in which at least 1 day of instruction, examination, 
or preparation for examination occurs.''.

SEC. 4. INCENTIVE COMPENSATION.

    (a) Amendment.--Part G of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1088 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 
484B (20 U.S.C. 1091b) the following:

``SEC. 484C. INCENTIVE COMPENSATION PROHIBITED.

    ``(a) Prohibition.--No institution of higher education 
participating in a program under this title shall make any payment of a 
commission, bonus, or other incentive, non-salary payment, based 
directly on success in securing enrollments or financial aid, to any 
person or entity directly engaged in student recruiting or admission 
activities, or making decisions regarding the award of student 
financial assistance, except that this section shall not apply to the 
recruitment of foreign students residing in foreign countries who are 
not eligible to receive Federal student assistance.
    ``(b) Exception.--Subsection (a) shall not apply to any contract 
with any third-party service provider that has no control over 
eligibility for admission or enrollment or the awarding of financial 
aid at the institution of higher education, if no employee of the 
third-party service provider is compensated solely on the basis of 
student recruitment goals or objectives.
    ``(c) Definition of Salary.--For purposes of subsection (a), a 
person shall be treated as receiving a salary (and not as receiving 
incentive compensation) when such person receives a fixed compensation 
that is paid regularly for services and that is adjusted no more 
frequently than every 6 months.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Paragraph (20) of section 487(a) of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(20)) is repealed.
    (c) Technical Amendment.--Section 487(c)(1) of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(c)(1)) is amended by striking ``paragraph 
(2)(B)'' each place it appears in subparagraphs (F) and (H) and 
inserting ``paragraph (3)(B)''.
                                 <all>