Sponsors (6)
Introduced March 11, 2026 by Richard Joseph Durbin · Last progress March 11, 2026
The bill strengthens transparency, complaint access, and coordinated federal oversight to protect students and taxpayers from misconduct in the for‑profit college sector, but it does so at the cost of new administrative expenses, privacy risks, potential reputational harms to institutions, and increased regulatory burdens that may create uneven effects across states and schools.
Students and parents get clear, accessible institution-level data plus a centralized For‑Profit College Warning List so they can better compare schools and avoid institutions with histories of misconduct or eligibility problems.
Students gain a single, easy way to file complaints (toll-free number and website) and routed complaint handling where possible, increasing access to redress and oversight of problematic institutions.
Federal agencies, accreditors, and state authorities get more coordinated data-sharing, advisory review, and reporting that improves detection of fraud, enforcement targeting, and overall accountability for proprietary institutions — protecting students and taxpayers.
Students and complainants face heightened risk of privacy breaches or misuse of personally identifiable information because complaint details are collected and shared across agencies.
Taxpayers will bear significant new administrative costs to build and maintain the hotline, secure database, committee operations, and annual reporting requirements.
Schools, employees, and students may suffer reputational and financial harm from public warning lists and aggregated complaint reporting before disputes are resolved, potentially reducing enrollments and jobs.
Based on analysis of 14 sections of legislative text.
Creates an interagency oversight committee, advisory panel, centralized complaint system, annual public report, and a yearly "For‑Profit College Warning List" for proprietary institutions.
Creates a federal interagency oversight structure and public tools to monitor, investigate, and warn about for‑profit (proprietary) colleges that receive federal education funds. It requires an interagency Committee and a public Advisory Committee, a centralized student complaint intake system (phone/website/database), mandatory interagency data sharing (with privacy protections), an annual public report with detailed metrics, and a yearly "For‑Profit College Warning List" published by July 1 each year with procedures for notice and response by institutions. The law defines covered terms (accreditors, federal education assistance, institutional debt, recruiting/marketing activities, State approval agencies, and veterans service organizations), sets membership and duties for the Committees, requires routing and use of complaint data for enforcement and reporting, and directs publication of complaint and performance data (without personally identifiable information) to inform parents, students, and stakeholders.