Student Protection and Success Act

In plain language: Student Protection and Success Act This bill establishes certain consequences for institutions of higher education (IHEs) that have low student loan repayment rates or high student loan balances among their students. Specifically, the bill makes an IHE ineligible for federal student financial aid programs for three fiscal years if only 15% or less of its students are able to start repaying the principal of their loans by specified deadlines. Additionally, the bill creates a grant program through which the Department of Education must award grants to eligible IHEs (i.e., IHEs with a student loan repayment rate above 25%) that have a strong record of supporting low- and moderate-income students. The bill funds the grants by requiring IHEs with certain nonrepayment loan balances to make risk-sharing payments. Grants may be used to increase college access and success for the students using investments and practices such as awarding additional need-based financial aid, enhancing academic and student support services, and establishing or expanding accelerated learning opportunities. The bill also requires the National Center for Education Statistics to collect information on student service expenditures, student service resources, and recruitment and marketing expenditures.

Provisional: our plain-language summary, pending review.