[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2098 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2098

    To support statewide individual-level integrated postsecondary 
            education data systems, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 9, 2012

   Mr. Wyden introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To support statewide individual-level integrated postsecondary 
            education data systems, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Student Right to Know Before You Go 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Every year, millions of people in the United States 
        will make the choice of whether to invest in higher education 
        or job retraining programs, but outcomes vary widely based on 
        the program of study selected, the institution selected, and 
        the maximum level of education attained.
            (2) A person who obtains an associate degree earns, on 
        average, $1,500,000 over a lifetime, while individuals with the 
        maximum accreditation of a high school diploma can expect to 
        earn $1,300,000 over a lifetime. By comparison, individuals 
        with a baccalaureate degree earn, on average, $2,300,000 in 
        their lifetime. However, 28.2 percent of individuals with 
        associate degrees earn more than the median salary of 
        baccalaureate degree-holders. It is not just maximum level of 
        education attained, but also the earnings and employment 
        prospects associated with specific programs of study, that 
        determines the amount of an individual's earnings. Furthermore, 
        the employment and earnings projections of distinct degree and 
        certificate programs and the cost of obtaining these 
        credentials are not equal across institutions.
            (3) On average, workers with a baccalaureate degree earn 
        more than 84 percent over their lifetime compared with those 
        who do not have a degree, and workers with an associate degree 
        earn, on average, $6,600 per year more than those with a high 
        school diploma as their highest credential.
            (4) According to the National Center for Public Policy and 
        Higher Education report in 2008, the cost of college increased 
        439 percent from 1982 to 2007. In 2010, graduates who took out 
        loans left college with an average of more than $25,000 of 
        debt, more than double what it was 15 years ago. In 2011, 
        student debt in the United States outweighed credit card debt 
        at nearly $1,000,000,000,000.
            (5) As of 2008, 84 percent of undergraduates had at least 1 
        credit card, up from 76 percent in 2004. With the rising cost 
        of college tuition and expenses, students are increasingly 
        turning to private credit to supplement traditional student 
        aid; on average, students charge $2,200 towards direct 
        education expenses, with only 17 percent regularly paying off 
        their balances each month. The average student leaves college 
        with an average credit card debt of more than $4,100, up from 
        about $2,900 in 2004.
            (6) Recent research shows that more than \1/2\ of student 
        loan borrowers are in deferment, forbearance, delinquency, or 
        default on their Federal student loans within 5 years of 
        leaving school.
            (7) Greater access and transparency regarding the costs and 
        benefits of higher education are critical to better prepare 
        students, parents, and the public for the realities of college 
        and the workforce.
            (8) Even though enrollment in colleges is on the rise, 
        corresponding graduation and completion rates have not risen. 
        At 2-year institutions of higher education, about 27 percent of 
        first-time, full-time students who enrolled in the fall of 2005 
        completed a certificate or associate's degree within 150 
        percent of the normal time required to complete such a degree.
            (9) As unemployment among young adults remains elevated, 
        the economic value and employment potential of certain degrees 
        has become an increasingly important factor in selecting a 
        major. Not all academic fields have the same employment and 
        earnings potential. Labor and employment statistics show that 
        certain majors have a higher employment potential after college 
        and a higher median starting salary. Furthermore, the 
        employment and earnings outcomes for the same or similar 
        accreditation vary widely across institutions of higher 
        education.
            (10) To enhance the public's knowledge and access to 
        improved information concerning the cost of college, financial 
        aid, prospective earnings, and post-graduation employment 
        rates, States, institutions of higher education, and other 
        stakeholders must collaborate to make these data points 
        available to prospective students, parents, and all taxpayers 
        in a new, comprehensive, and easily accessible manner.
            (11) Such collaboration will allow for a more comprehensive 
        statistical overview of the current landscape in American 
        higher education and increase accountability and efficiency.
            (12) Research shows that certain courses of study correlate 
        to improved earnings and employment; however, existing 
        reporting requirements make it impossible for researchers to 
        accurately analyze data at the institutional level. A State-
        based reporting system would ensure that students, parents, 
        taxpayers, and policymakers can make informed decisions, 
        maximizing their return on investment and bringing greater 
        transparency to higher education in the United States.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administering entity.--The term ``administering 
        entity'' means--
                    (A) a State, including a State coordinating or 
                governing board, State system office, or other State 
                agency;
                    (B) a multi-State compact; or
                    (C) a data system operated by the Department of 
                Education.
            (2) Educational institution.--The term ``educational 
        institution'' means--
                    (A) an institution of higher education, as defined 
                in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
                U.S.C. 1002);
                    (B) a school or institution that offers a program 
                of postsecondary education and that is an eligible 
                provider of training services under section 122 of the 
                Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (42 U.S.C. 2842); and
                    (C) any entity that provides postsecondary training 
                programs that are approved by the Secretary of Labor 
                under section 236 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 
                2296) for workers who receive benefits under the trade 
                adjustment assistance program under chapter 2 of title 
                II of that Act (19 U.S.C. 2271 et seq.).
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Education.

SEC. 4. PARTICIPATION IN STATEWIDE INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL INTEGRATED 
              POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION DATA SYSTEMS.

    (a) Amendment.--Section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(17)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(17) The'' and inserting ``(17)(A) The''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(B) To meet the requirements of subparagraph (A), the 
        institution will fully participate in, and provide all data 
        required for--
                    ``(i) the individual-level integrated postsecondary 
                education data system certified by the Secretary under 
                section 5(a) of the Student Right to Know Before You Go 
                Act that is administered by a State entity of the State 
                in which the institution is located; or
                    ``(ii) if no such system exists in the State, an 
                individual-level integrated postsecondary education 
                data system that is operated by another administering 
                entity and that is certified by the Secretary under 
                such section 5(a).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act.

SEC. 5. STATEWIDE INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL INTEGRATED POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION 
              DATA SYSTEMS.

    (a) Statewide Employment and Learning Exchanges.--
            (1) Certification of integrated postsecondary education 
        data systems.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the 
                date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall, 
                upon request by an administering entity--
                            (i) review the administering entity's 
                        individual-level postsecondary education data 
                        system or other data system; and
                            (ii) upon determining that the system meets 
                        the requirements of this subsection, certify 
                        the system for purposes of section 
                        487(a)(17)(B) of the Higher Education Act of 
                        1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(17)(B)).
                    (B) Consultation for certification of systems 
                including data for other programs.--Before certifying 
                under subparagraph (A) an individual-level integrated 
                postsecondary education data system that includes data 
                from a Federal education and training program in 
                accordance with paragraph (2)(B)(ii)(I), the Secretary 
                shall consult with the head of the Federal agency 
                responsible for administering such Federal education 
                and training program.
            (2) Requirements.--An individual-level integrated 
        postsecondary education data system certified under this 
        subsection shall meet the following requirements:
                    (A) Compatiblity with ipeds.--The system shall have 
                the ability to submit data, in a manner that does not 
                disclose any personally identifiable information, to 
                the Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS) or any 
                other Federal postsecondary data collection as 
                designated by the Secretary, in a timely manner to the 
                satisfaction of the Secretary.
                    (B) Scope of system.--The system shall include--
                            (i) data from educational institutions 
                        described in section 3(2)(A); or
                            (ii) if the administering entity chooses, 
                        data from such educational institutions and 
                        data from--
                                    (I) other Federal education and 
                                training programs, such as the Job 
                                Corps program carried out under 
                                subtitle C of title I of the Workforce 
                                Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2881 
                                et seq.), educational assistance and 
                                training programs under the laws 
                                administered by the Secretary of 
                                Veterans Affairs, programs carried out 
                                under the Carl D. Perkins Career and 
                                Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 
                                U.S.C. 2301 et seq.), and training, 
                                education, and educational assistance 
                                programs of the Department of Defense; 
                                or
                                    (II) beginning on or after the date 
                                that is 5 years after the date of 
                                enactment of this Act, educational 
                                institutions described in subparagraphs 
                                (B) and (C) of section 3(2).
                    (C) Unique identifier.--The system shall use a 
                unique individual identifier system that--
                            (i) does not permit an individual to be 
                        individually identified by users of the data 
                        system; and
                            (ii) is created through a process that 
                        creates a one-way secure identifier that can be 
                        used in data systems in other States and cannot 
                        be reverse-engineered.
                    (D) Data included.--The system shall include the 
                following data and information:
                            (i) Data sufficient to complete all student 
                        components of reporting required for the 
                        Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System 
                        of the National Center for Education 
                        Statistics. The system shall employ, where 
                        applicable, the most recent version available 
                        of the Common Education Data Standards 
                        developed by the National Center for Education 
                        Statistics.
                            (ii) Rates of remedial enrollment, credit 
                        accumulation, and postsecondary completion by 
                        high school completion status.
                            (iii) Other information determined 
                        necessary by the Secretary to address alignment 
                        and adequate preparation for success in 
                        postsecondary education.
                    (E) Data audit and data governance systems.--The 
                system shall include a data audit system assessing data 
                quality, validity, and reliability and a data 
                governance system, operated at the State or regional 
                level (as the case may be) with the participation of 
                representative educational institutions, to ensure 
                compliance with Federal and State standards of data 
                quality and individual privacy.
                    (F) Individual privacy and access to data.--The 
                administering entity shall provide an assurance--
                            (i) that the system does not disclose any 
                        personally identifiable information and 
                        complies with the requirements of section 444 
                        of the General Education Provisions Act (20 
                        U.S.C. 1232g) (commonly known as the ``Family 
                        Educational Rights and Privacy Act'') and other 
                        applicable Federal and State privacy laws; and
                            (ii) that there is a policy on the use of 
                        data in the system by other entities, including 
                        by nongovernmental entities.
            (3) Additional requirements.--In order for an individual-
        level integrated postsecondary education data system of an 
        administering entity to be certified under this subsection, the 
        entity shall demonstrate to the Secretary that the entity is 
        coordinating with an agency or entity that oversees 
        administrative wage and earnings data to match data from the 
        postsecondary education data system to administrative wage and 
        earnings data, in order to create an interoperable employment 
        and learning exchange that--
                    (A) continues the use of a unique individual 
                identifier system that does not permit an individual to 
                be identified by users of the data system; and
                    (B) provides data on average individual annual 
                earnings, disaggregated by educational program, degree 
                received, educational institution, employment sector, 
                and State.
    (b) Technical Assistance Grants.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary is authorized to award 
        grants--
                    (A) to educational institutions to assist with the 
                costs necessary to comply with the requirements of this 
                section or section 487(a)(17) of the Higher Education 
                Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(17)), as added by 
                section 4; and
                    (B) to administering entities described in 
                subparagraph (A) or (B) of section 3(1) that have an 
                integrated postsecondary education data system 
                certified by the Secretary under subsection (a) or that 
                are developing such a system, to assist with the costs 
                associated with such systems or with developing or 
                implementing such systems.
            (2) Application.--An educational institution or 
        administering entity that desires to receive a grant under this 
        subsection shall submit an application to the Secretary at such 
        time, in such manner, and containing such information as the 
        Secretary shall require.

SEC. 6. TRANSITION PLAN.

    (a) Transition Requirements.--In transitioning to the requirements 
of this Act and the amendments made by this Act, the Secretary shall--
            (1) ensure that no educational institution will be required 
        to report duplicative information to the Secretary;
            (2) allow States and educational institutions to 
        consolidate the reporting requirements under section 487(a)(17) 
        of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) 
        with any other overlapping reporting requirements, and inform 
        State and institutions of this ability; and
            (3) establish safeguards to ensure that States and 
        educational institutions are not required to report duplicative 
        information through the individual-level integrated 
        postsecondary education data systems certified under section 
        5(a).
    (b) Transition Plan.--Not later than 3 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall make available to States, 
educational institutions, and the public, a transition plan (including 
guidance) that--
            (1) describes the new options for complying with the 
        reporting requirements of section 487(a)(17) of the Higher 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(17)), as amended by 
        section 4;
            (2) describes the transition requirements under subsection 
        (a) and how the Secretary will fulfill such requirements; and
            (3) provides a timeline, including dates, for the 
        Secretary's implementation of the requirements of this Act and 
        the amendments made by this Act.
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