At Senate HELP Committee Hearing, Senator Hassan Discusses PROTECT Students Act that Would Safeguard Students and Veterans from Predatory Higher Education Practices
Senator Hassan will push for PROTECT Students Act to be included in reauthorization of Higher Education Act
To watch the Senator’s questioning, click here.
WASHINGTON – Senator Maggie Hassan today discussed the comprehensive legislation she recently introduced with Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Democratic Whip, to protect students, including servicemembers and veterans, and taxpayers from predatory and anti-student higher education practices and to ensure that higher education meets the needs of hard-working students, during a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing. As Senator Hassan works with fellow HELP Committee members to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the Preventing Risky Operations from Threatening the Education and Career Trajectories of Students Act of 2019, also known as the PROTECT Students Act, represents common-sense consumer protections for students and holds predatory institutions, including for-profit schools, accountable when they engage in unfair, deceptive, and other fraudulent practices.
“As we work to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, it’s really important that we expand consumer protections for students and ensure that all higher education institutions work to expand student [access] and improve outcomes,” Senator Hassan stated. “Higher education has always been one of the greatest entry points to the middle class and economic success, and as I think all of you have touched on it is our jobs to make sure that promise doesn’t slip away. So that’s why I introduced the PROTECT Students Act with Senator Durbin. This bill would provide basic consumer protections for students, and strengthen federal oversight of the for-profit higher education sector – a sector that has had problems time and again with its abuse of taxpayer dollars – dollars that are intended to support students.”
In her questioning, Senator Hassan discussed the process put forward in the PROTECT Students Act to address the issue of for-profit higher education institutions converting to not-for-profit status, as well as the importance of the incentive compensation ban that helps ensure that prospective students receive accurate information during the admissions process and when they receive student advising.
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