[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5116 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5116
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the standards for
accreditation of an institution of higher education to assess the
institution's adoption of admissions practices that refrain from
preferential treatment in admissions based on an applicant's
relationship to alumni of, or donors to, the institution, to authorize
a feasibility study on data collection, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 23, 2026
Mr. Young (for himself, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Scott of South Carolina, Mr.
Warnock, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Kim) 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 require the standards for
accreditation of an institution of higher education to assess the
institution's adoption of admissions practices that refrain from
preferential treatment in admissions based on an applicant's
relationship to alumni of, or donors to, the institution, to authorize
a feasibility study on data collection, 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 ``Merit-based Educational Reforms and
Institutional Transparency Act'' or the ``MERIT Act''.
SEC. 2. ASSESSMENT OF ADMISSIONS PRACTICES.
(a) In General.--
(1) Standards for accreditation.--Section 496(a)(5) of the
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b(a)(5)) is
amended--
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (G), (H), (I),
and (J), as subparagraphs (H), (I), (J), and (K),
respectively;
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (F) the
following:
``(G) adoption of admissions practices that refrain
from any manner of preferential treatment in the
admission process to applicants on the basis of the
applicant's relationship to--
``(i) alumni of the institution; or
``(ii) donors to the institution;'';
(C) in subparagraph (H), as redesignated under
subparagraph (A), by striking ``and admissions''; and
(D) in the flush matter at the end, by striking
``subparagraphs (A), (H), and (J)'' and inserting
``subparagraphs (A), (I), and (K)''.
(2) Preferential treatment definition.--Section 496 of the
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(r) Preferential Treatment.--For the purpose of subsection
(a)(5)(G), the term `preferential treatment' means making an admissions
decision or awarding tangible education benefits where an applicant's
relationship with an alumni of, or donor to, the deciding institution
serves as the determinative factor.''.
(b) Rule of Construction.--Section 496(p) of the Higher Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b(p)) is amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as
subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and moving the margins
of such subparagraphs (as so redesignated) 2 ems to the right;
(2) by striking ``Nothing in subsection (a)(5) shall be
construed to restrict the ability of'' and inserting the
following:
``(1) In general.--Nothing in subsection (a)(5) shall be
construed to restrict the ability of''; and
(3) by adding at the end of the following:
``(2) Demonstrated interest.--Nothing in subparagraph (G)
of subsection (a)(5) shall be construed to prevent institutions
from considering the demonstrated interest of an applicant as a
factor in admissions decisions if--
``(A) the criteria for assessing demonstrated
interest are clearly defined and made publicly
available;
``(B) the applicant is provided the opportunity to
explain why they have a demonstrated interest in the
institution, which may be informed by lived
experiences, values, attributes, and faith; and
``(C) the opportunities to demonstrate interest are
equally accessible to all applicants, regardless of
their financial resources, alumni affiliation, or donor
affiliation.
``(3) Faith-based institutions.--Nothing in subparagraph
(G) of subsection (a)(5) shall be construed to inhibit the
right of a religious institution to make admissions decisions
consistent with the institution's faith-based values.''.
(c) Report.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
completion of the negotiated rulemaking process under section
492 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1098a) with
respect to the amendments made by this section, and biennially
thereafter, the Secretary of Education shall submit to the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the
Senate and the Committee on Education and Workforce of the
House of Representatives a report that identifies the efforts
taken to ensure compliance with the requirements of this
section and the amendments made by this section, including--
(A) any technical assistance the Secretary has
provided;
(B) any regulatory guidance the Secretary has
issued; and
(C) any compliance monitoring the Secretary has
conducted.
(2) Public availability.--Each report described under
paragraph (1) shall be made available to the public.
SEC. 3. FEASIBILITY STUDY TO IMPROVE DATA COLLECTION.
(a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Secretary of Education shall explore the feasibility
of working with the National Student Clearinghouse to establish a
third-party method to collect and produce institution-level analysis of
data on the impact of an admissions decision based on an applicant's
relationship with an alumni of, or donor to, the deciding institution,
and how such data reported to the National Student Clearinghouse could
be secured, while considering the following:
(1) Whether data reported to the National Student
Clearinghouse can accurately capture the impact and prevalence
of admitting students with alumni or donor affiliations at
various institutions.
(2) Whether institutions have clear and defined policies
regarding admitting students with alumni or donor affiliations
that can be transparently reported to the National Student
Clearinghouse.
(3) Whether this new data stream can be integrated with
reporting to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
(IPEDS) while ensuring that the quality of data remains
consistent or improves compared to the data provided through
IPEDS.
(4) Whether reporting this new data might alter the current
interaction between institutions and the National Student
Clearinghouse.
(5) Whether reporting such data can maintain
confidentiality, especially regarding private donations and
donor identities, while still producing accurate measures of
institutional practices.
(6) Whether the National Student Clearinghouse can satisfy
data reporting requirements without transferring any
disaggregated data that would be personally identifiable to the
Department of Education.
(7) Whether the data can be reported in such a way that it
separates students with familial ties to alumni from those
admitted due to direct donor affiliations.
(8) Whether there's a distinction in admissions criteria
for legacy and donor-affiliated applicants compared to
traditional applicants.
(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to authorize the development of a nationwide database of
personally identifiable information on individuals involved in studies
or other collections of data under this Act or an amendment made by
this Act.
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