[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 30 (Tuesday, March 11, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H846-H847]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 MAKING CERTAIN TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965 
                RELATING TO GRADUATION DATA DISCLOSURES

  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 914) to make certain technical corrections in the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 relating to graduation data disclosures, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 914

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS RELATING TO DISCLOSURES 
                   REQUIRED WITH RESPECT TO GRADUATION RATES.

       (a) Amendments.--Section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 
     1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(3)(B), by striking ``June 30'' and 
     inserting ``August 31''; and
       (2) in subsection (e)(9), by striking ``August 30'' and 
     inserting ``August 31''.
       (b) Effective Dates.--
       (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
     amendments made by subsection (a) are effective upon 
     enactment.
       (2) Information dissemination.--No institution shall be 
     required to comply with the amendment made by subsection 
     (a)(1) before July 1, 1998.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California [Mr. McKeon] and the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Kildee] 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California [Mr. McKeon]
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, today we are taking up H.R. 914, which the gentleman 
from Michigan [Mr. Kildee] and I introduced, and which was reported by 
the Committee on Education and the Workforce by voice vote.
  H.R. 914 makes a technical correction to the student right-to-know 
provisions of the Higher Education Act. The student right-to-know 
provisions of the Higher Education Act require institutions of higher 
education to report graduation rates for their student body.
  These statistics are compiled for the student body at large and for 
student athletes as well. Unfortunately, a change made in the fiscal 
year 1996 omnibus appropriations bill resulted in these rates being 
calculated at different points in time during the academic year. Rates 
for the student body at large are calculated as of June 30, while rates 
for student athletes are calculated as of August 30.
  As a result of this mistake, institutions will be required to keep 
two sets of records for calculating and reporting graduation rates. 
This amendment corrects the problem by conforming the section of the 
Higher Education Act dealing with the reporting date for student 
athletes to the section of the Higher Education Act that requires 
preparation of graduation rates for all students.
  This amendment will set August 31 as the uniform reporting date, 
which allows institutions to more accurately reflect the manner in 
which they collect the data on graduation rates, and eliminates the 
burdensome task of preparing two distinct sets of graduation rates.

[[Page H847]]

  The amendment is drafted to allow institutions to comply with the 
revised dates immediately, as it is our understanding that a majority 
of institutions wish to use the revised date, and we encourage them to 
do so.
  However, we do not want to penalize those institutions that, for 
whatever reason, could not immediately comply with the date change. For 
this reason, the effective date for mandatory compliance with this 
amendment begins on July 1, 1998. This should allow sufficient time for 
all institutions to make any system changes necessary to comply with 
the date change. The higher education community requested our 
assistance in conforming the reporting dates for graduation rates, with 
the concurrence of the Department of Education. The technical 
correction has no budget impact.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan for his cooperation in 
moving ahead with this technical correction, and I urge my colleagues 
to support H.R. 914.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge adoption of this amendment, of which I am 
a cosponsor. It is purely a technical amendment. It would change the 
August 30 date in the Federal right-to-know law in two places in order 
to reflect the fact that the month of August actually has 31 days.
  The overall importance of the amendment, however, cannot be 
minimized. The provision to be amended relieves institutions of higher 
education from collecting separate sets of graduation rates in order to 
comply with the Federal law. Institutions would be allowed to use data 
that they are already collecting in order to meet the requirements of 
the Federal law. The simple date change from August 30 to August 31 
will accomplish that objective once and hopefully forever. I urge the 
amendment's approval.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California [Mr. McKeon] that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 914, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
therefore) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was 
passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________