Sec. 404. Online counseling tools
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Section 485 ( 20 U.S.C. 1092 ) is amended by adding at the end the following: Beginning not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Affordable Loans for Any Student Act , the Secretary shall maintain— an online counseling tool that provides the exit counseling required under subsection
(b)and meets the applicable requirements of this subsection; and an online counseling tool that provides the annual counseling required under subsection (l), enables a borrower to electronically sign and accept the borrower's student loan contract for the upcoming academic year under section 455(c)(3)(B)(ii), and meets the applicable requirements of this subsection. In maintaining the online counseling tools described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall ensure that each such tool, and its underlying content— are consumer tested, in consultation with other relevant Federal agencies, students, borrowers, institutions of higher education, secondary school and postsecondary counselors, and consumer advocacy organizations, to ensure that the tool is effective in helping individuals understand their rights and obligations with respect to borrowing a loan made under part D; are understandable to borrowers of loans made under part D; freely available to all eligible institutions; and integrate applicable loan data from the National Student Loan Data System or a successor system, including data regarding loans made, insured, or guaranteed under this title and data regarding private education loans, pursuant to section 485B(i). The Secretary shall— use each online counseling tool described in paragraph
(1)to keep a record of which individuals have received counseling using the tool and notify the applicable institutions of the individual’s completion of such counseling; in the case of a borrower who receives annual counseling for a loan made under part D using the tool described in paragraph (1)(B)— enable the borrower to accept and electronically sign the student loan contract as required under section 455(c)(3)(B)(ii) and notify the applicable institutions that the individual completed the counseling and electronically signed the contract; and if the borrower chooses not to sign the student loan contract through the online counseling— inform the borrower, through the online counseling tool, of the date by when the borrower should accept and sign the student loan contract for which the borrower has received such counseling; and notify the applicable institution that the borrower completed the counseling but did not sign the student loan contract; and in the case of a borrower described in subsection (b)(1)(B) at an institution that uses the online counseling tool described in paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection, attempt to provide the information described in subsection (b)(1)(A) to the borrower through such tool. Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Affordable Loans for Any Student Act , the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, shall begin conducting a rigorous, longitudinal study of the impact and effectiveness of the student loan counseling provided under section 485(n). The longitudinal study carried out under paragraph
(1)shall include borrower information, in the aggregate and disaggregated by race and ethnicity, gender, income quartile, and status as an individual with a disability, on— student persistence; degree attainment; program completion; successfully maintaining current student loan repayment status following the student's exit from the institution; cumulative borrowing levels; and such other factors as the Secretary may determine. The disaggregation under subparagraph
(A)shall not be required in a case in which the number of borrowers in a category is insufficient to yield statistically reliable information or the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual borrower. Not later than 18 months after the commencement of the study under paragraph (1), and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall evaluate the progress of the study and report any short-term findings to the authorizing committees. .
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Sec. 404
Online counseling tools
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