A bill to amend title IX of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to enhance the quality and diversity of college and university faculty and to expand individual opportunity in graduate education, and for other purposes.

Summary

Amends title IX (Graduate Programs) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to direct the Secretary of Education (the Secretary) to provide for coordinated administration and regulation of assisted graduate programs to ensure that they are carried out in a manner most compatible with academic practices. Directs the Secretary to appoint administrative and technical employees with the appropriate educational background to assist in program administration. Revises and renames title IX part A, Grants to Institutions to Strengthen and Diversify the Higher Education Professorate (currently, Grants to Institutions to Encourage Minority Participation in Graduate Education). Directs the Secretary to make multiyear grants to institutions of higher education (or consortia of such institutions and nonprofit entities) with a demonstrated record of enhancing the access of individuals from underrepresented groups to graduate education. Requires the use of such grants to enable institutions to identify from underrepresented groups, and provide with fellowship assistance, talented faculty and baccalaureate degree recipients with financial need who wish to obtain a doctoral degree and continue in or enter the higher education professorate. Requires such fellowships to equal the greater of $10,000 or the recipient's financial need. Directs the Secretary to give priority to grant applications from programs that: (1) provide a tuition waiver and an assistantship to each fellowship recipient; (2) provide a stipend to each recipient from non-Federal resources; (3) emphasize courses of study leading to a doctorate in disciplines in which faculty from underrepresented groups are underrepresented; and (4) describe steps to ensure that a fellowship recipient will teach at an institution of higher education where minority undergraduate students are likely to benefit from the recipient's educational experience and academic achievements. Requires equitable distribution of: (1) grants by the Secretary geographically and with fair representation of public and private institutions; and (2) fellowships by institutions among underrepresented groups. States that such equitable distribution requirements are not to be interpreted as requiring an institution or consortium to grant preferences or disparate treatment to members of one group based on a comparison of group numbers or percentages participating in the program in comparison to group numbers or percentages in any community, State, section, or other area. Sets forth grant application requirements for institutions or consortia. Sets forth agreement requirements for fellowship recipients. Requires an agreement to teach for at least two years, within five years after completing the doctorate, at a public or private nonprofit institution of higher education, by all fellowship recipients (or in the case of recipients who are already faculty members, at an institution with a significant minority enrollment). Requires repayment if the teaching service requirement is not complied with. Provides for deferral of repayment during certain periods, and forgiveness in cases of permanent total disability. Revises title IX part B provisions for Patricia Roberts Harris Fellowships for graduate and professional students who demonstrate financial need. Directs the Secretary to reserve Harris Fellowship funds in specified equal percentages for grants to institutions for doctoral study awards and for masters and professional study awards, as well as a certain percentage for grants to institutions operating postbaccalaureate programs leading to careers that serve the public interest. Sets the Harris Fellowship institutional payment at $8,000 (in addition to the award paid to each individual for a Harris Fellowship grant). Directs the Secretary to adjust the institutional payment annually for inflation. Sets the award amount for individual Harris Fellowships at the greater of $14,000 or the student's financial need as determined by the institution by a Secretary-approved method. (Current law sets such amount at the lesser of $10,000 or the student's financial need as determined under HEA title IV student assistance provisions.) Sets forth separate requirements for fellowship awards and extensions to: (1) master's or professional degree students; and (2) doctoral degree students. Reconstitutes certain current programs as title IX part C, renamed Grants to Support Graduate Study in Areas of National Need. Revises the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship program for graduate study in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Increases the individual fellowship stipend amount to the greater of $14,000 or the student's financial need as determined by the institution by a Secretary-approved method. (Current law authorizes the Secretary to determine appropriate stipend levels, not to exceed demonstrated need, comparable in support to that provided in federally funded graduate fellowships in science and engineering.) Sets the institutional payment at $8,000, to be adjusted annually for inflation. Directs the Secretary to designate areas of national need on the basis of projected need for faculty and scientists due to replacement demands and emerging fields. Requires the grant application to provide assurances that the academic department or program will provide at least one year of supervised training in instruction for students that shall be paid from non-Federal funds. Specifies that students pursuing a doctoral degree after having completed a master's degree program are included among those to whom stipends may be awarded under such graduate assistance program. Authorizes appropriations for title IX programs. Revises HEA title IV Special Programs for Students from Disadvantaged Backgrounds to authorize additional appropriations for the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. Directs the Secretary to ensure that a significant number of projects assisted under such program provide summer research internships coordinated through graduate divisions of institutions of higher education in order to provide effective linkage between graduate faculty and programs assisted under title IX. Reserves a specified minimum amount of program funds for such internship projects.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

2 official files

• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 18 July 1991

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.