Understanding the True Cost of College Act of 2017
Latest action · Apr 7, 2017 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedApr 7, 2017
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Understanding the True Cost of College Act of 2017
This bill amends the Higher Education Opportunity Act and the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education to use a standardized financial aid offer form that meets specified requirements.
The Department of Education (ED) must develop a standard format for financial aid offer forms based on recommendations from representatives of students, students' families, institutions of higher education, secondary school and postsecondary counselors, and nonprofit consumer groups.
The form must include specified details and disclosures regarding:
- the cost of attendance;
- aid that does not need to be repaid;
- the net price that a student or family is estimated to pay;
- work study assistance;
- types and amounts of loans, including monthly repayment amounts;
- sources for additional information;
- deadlines and the process for accepting financial aid;
- the academic period covered by the aid;
- default rates;
- the percentage of students who have student loans and the median debt at graduation for students;
- private loans;
- scholarships; and
- the terms and conditions of federal financial aid.
ED must: (1) test the form with representatives of students, students' families, institutions of higher education, secondary school and postsecondary counselors, and nonprofit consumer groups; and (2) use the results to develop the final form.
Each institution of higher education that receives federal financial assistance under the Higher Education Act of 1965 must use the standard form when offering financial aid to students.
Cosponsors 9
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Apr 7, 2017 to Jul 9, 2018, with 1 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-MN | Al Franken | Original | Apr 7, 2017 |
| D-DE | Christopher A. Coons | Jun 5, 2017 | |
| D-MA | Elizabeth Warren | Jun 5, 2017 | |
| D-NY | Kirsten E. Gillibrand | Jun 5, 2017 | |
| D-RI | Sheldon Whitehouse | Jun 5, 2017 | |
| D-MD | Benjamin L. Cardin | Jul 27, 2017 | |
| D-MN | Tina Smith | Feb 5, 2018 | |
| D-IL | Richard J. Durbin | Jun 26, 2018 | |
| D-AL | Doug Jones | Jul 9, 2018 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Apr 7, 2017Introduced in Senate
- Apr 7, 2017Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Education.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Apr 7, 2017Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.