# 119-hr-2899: PROTECT Students Act of 2025 119-hr-2899, PROTECT Students Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Takano, Mark [D-CA-39] (D-CA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2899 - As of: 2026-04-21 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-hr-2899 - Congress: 119 - Title: PROTECT Students Act of 2025 - Status: introduced - Introduced: 2025-04-10 - Sponsor: Rep. Takano, Mark [D-CA-39] (D-CA) - Cosponsors: 5 - Policy area: Education - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-04-21 ## Summary **Ties federal student aid to program outcomes.** This bill would create a data-driven framework that links Title IV eligibility to earnings and debt-to-earnings tests while expanding student protections and beefing up oversight and transparency. - Students and families: Gives borrowers stronger borrower-defense discharge rights using a preponderance-of-evidence standard and broadens closed-school relief with automatic discharges one year after closure. Institutions cannot withhold official transcripts and students gain a private right of action for misrepresentation with possible treble damages. - Institutions and third-party servicers: Requires colleges to spend at least 30% of net tuition and fees on instruction from 2026–27 through 2031–32 and later sets a combined instruction and student-service threshold. Bans incentive compensation, demands attestations and annual auditor verification, and widens oversight of third-party servicers. - Oversight, enforcement, and transparency: Creates an Enforcement Unit inside Federal Student Aid to investigate misconduct and run secret shopping. The Department must match IRS and Social Security data, publish program-level debt-to-earnings and earnings premium metrics, issue determinations within 45 days of matches, and can withhold Title IV funds for failing programs. ## Cosponsors (5) - Rep. Lee, Susie [D-NV-3] (D-NV), 2025-04-10T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Krishnamoorthi, Raja [D-IL-8] (D-IL), 2025-04-10T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Waters, Maxine [D-CA-43] (D-CA), 2025-04-10T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Adams, Alma S. [D-NC-12] (D-NC), 2025-04-10T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Meeks, Gregory W. [D-NY-5] (D-NY), 2025-05-21T00:00:00.000Z ## Provisions PRIA read - Keep court access and your transcript: benefit, high. This bill would bar schools from forcing students into arbitration or restricting court access in enrollment agreements. Schools would have to notify students that limits like jury waivers or venue rules will not be enforced. Schools could not withhold an official transcript because you owe a balan… - More loan relief and closed-school help: benefit, high. If enacted, the Education Department would cancel a federal student loan when it finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, that you have a valid defense to repayment. Relief would wipe out principal, interest, and fees and could reimburse past payments, and it would be final when the Department no… - No exceptions to recruiter pay ban: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Department could not create exceptions to the ban on incentive pay for recruiters. Schools would have to attest within one year that they follow the ban, and get annual independent audits after that. If a school is not in compliance at enactment, its federal aid participation agreem… - One-stop student aid complaint system: benefit, medium. The bill would create one phone line and website to handle complaints about federal student aid, loan servicing, and school practices. You could file anonymously or ask the Department not to share your complaint with the school. The Department would have to respond to you within 90 days, and school… - More oversight of risky schools: benefit, medium. Accreditors would have to assess risks to students, monitor quality, and publish sanction letters, and the Department would post them too. The Department would flag high‑risk schools using new factors and conduct broader reviews of recruiting, complaints, and regulator or accreditor actions. More t… - Minimum 30% spending on instruction: mixed, high. The bill would require colleges that get federal aid to spend at least 30% of net tuition and fees on instruction each year from 2026–2027 through 2031–2032. In 2031–2032, the Department would set a minimum combined instruction and student‑services threshold that could not be less than 30%, based o… - Stricter debt-to-earnings rules for programs: mixed, high. The bill would have the Department publish each program’s debt‑to‑earnings and earnings premium every year. A program would fail if its discretionary DTE is 20% or more and its annual DTE is 8% or more, or if its earnings premium is zero or negative. If a program fails in 2 of any 3 years, it would… - Stronger enforcement and school penalties: mixed, medium. If enacted, Federal Student Aid would set up an enforcement unit with a Chief Enforcement Officer to investigate, do secret shopping, and take emergency actions, suspensions, terminations, or civil penalties. The Secretary could subpoena documents and testimony. The Department could seek to recover… ## Related bills - 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act - 119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act - 119-hr-2045: Medicare Dental, Vision, and Hearing Benefit Act of 2025 - 119-hr-20: Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025 - 119-hr-5390: FAMILY Act - 119-hr-15: Equality Act ## Sources - [119-hr-2899 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2899) ## Related - [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973) - [119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7977) - [119-hr-2045: Medicare Dental, Vision, and Hearing Benefit Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2045) - [119-hr-20: Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-20) - [119-hr-5390: FAMILY Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5390) - [119-hr-15: Equality Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-15) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2899 (as of 2026-04-21).