[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1203 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1203
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 regarding distance education,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 5, 2003
Mr. Enzi (for himself, Mr. Bingaman, and Mr. Campbell) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and PensionsYYYYYYYYYYYY
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 regarding distance education,
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 ``Distance Education and Online
Learning Act of 2003''.
SEC. 2. STUDENT ELIGIBILITY.
Section 484(l)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1091(l)(1)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A)--
(A) by striking ``in whole or in part'' and
inserting ``predominantly'';
(B) by striking ``of 1 year or longer''; and
(C) by striking ``unless'' and all that follows
through ``all courses at the institution''; and
(2) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as follows:
``(B) Requirement.--An institution of higher
education referred to in subparagraph (A) is an
institution of higher education that is not an
institution or school described in section 3(3)(C) of
the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education
Act of 1998.''.
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE PROGRAM.
Section 481(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1088(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(3)(A) A program that is offered predominantly through
distance education methods and processes (other than
correspondence courses) is an eligible program for purposes of
this title if--
``(i) the program was reviewed and approved by an
accrediting agency or association that--
``(I) is recognized by the Secretary under
subpart 2 of part H; and
``(II) has evaluation of distance education
programs within the scope of its recognition;
and
``(ii) the institution offering the program--
``(I) has not had its participation in
programs under this title limited, suspended,
or terminated within the preceding 5 years;
``(II) has not had or failed to resolve an
audit finding or program review finding under
this Act during the preceding 2 years that
resulted in the institution being required to
repay an amount that is greater than 10 percent
of the total funds the institution received
under the programs authorized by this title for
any award year covered by the audit or program
review;
``(III) has not been found by the Secretary
during the preceding 5 years to be in material
noncompliance with the provisions of this Act
related to the submission of acceptable and
timely audit reports required under this title;
and
``(IV) is determined to be financially
responsible under regulations promulgated by
the Secretary pursuant to section 498(c).
``(B) If the accreditation agency or association withdraws
approval of the program described in subparagraph (A)(i) or the
institution fails to meet any of the requirements described in
subparagraph (A)(ii), then the program shall cease to be an
eligible program at the end of the award year in which such
withdrawal of approval or failure to meet such requirements
occurs. The program shall not be an eligible program until the
provisions of subparagraph (A) (i) and (ii) are met again.
``(4) The Secretary shall promulgate regulations for
determining whether a program that offers a degree or
certificate on the basis of a competency assessment, that
examines the content of the course work provided by the
institution of higher education, is an eligible program for
purposes of this title.''.
SEC. 4. RECOGNITION OF ACCREDITING AGENCY OR ASSOCIATION.
Section 496 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b)
is amended--
(1) in subsection (n)(3), by striking the last sentence and
inserting the following: ``If the agency or association
requests that the evaluation of institutions offering distance
education programs be included within its scope of recognition,
and demonstrates that the agency or association meets the
requirements of subsection (p), then the Secretary shall
include the accreditation of institutions offering distance
education programs within the agency's or association's scope
of recognition.''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(p) Distance Education Programs.--An agency or association that
seeks to evaluate the quality of institutions offering distance
education programs within its scope of recognition shall, in addition
to meeting the other requirements of this subpart, demonstrate to the
Secretary that the agency or association assesses--
``(1) measures of student achievement of students enrolled
in distance education programs;
``(2) the preparation of faculty and students to
participate in distance education programs;
``(3) the quality of interaction between faculty and
students in distance education programs;
``(4) the availability of learning resources and support
services for students in distance education programs; and
``(5) measures to ensure the integrity of student
participation in distance education programs.''.
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