H.R. 7891

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7891 Reported in House (RH)]

<DOC>

Union Calendar No. 582
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7891

[Report No. 119-668]

To amend section 498A of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require 
the Secretary of Education to prioritize program reviews of 
institutions of higher education that disburse Federal financial aid 
under title IV of such Act without verifying the identity of a student 
whose FAFSA presents a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 12, 2026

Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce

May 26, 2026

Additional sponsor: Ms. Foxx

May 26, 2026

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 
12, 2026]

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend section 498A of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require 
the Secretary of Education to prioritize program reviews of 
institutions of higher education that disburse Federal financial aid 
under title IV of such Act without verifying the identity of a student 
whose FAFSA presents a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Student Aid Fraud Oversight and 
Accountability Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. PROGRAM REVIEW PRIORITY CATEGORY.

(a) Program Review Priority Category.--Section 498A(a)(2) of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099c-1(a)(2)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as subparagraph (G), 
and striking ``and'' after the semicolon at the end of such 
subparagraph; and
(3) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the following:
``(F) institutions identified under paragraph (4); 
and''.
(b) Identification of Institutions of Higher Education.--Section 
498A(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099c-1(a)) is 
amended--
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and 
inserting ``; and''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(4) shall identify each institution that has disbursed, 
on or after October 1, 2026, Federal financial aid under this 
title for an award year to any student whose application under 
section 483 for such award year presented a reasonable 
suspicion of identity fraud, as determined by the identity 
fraud detection system used by the Secretary, except that the 
Secretary shall exclude from such identification any 
institution that demonstrates to the Secretary that, with 
respect to each such student, before the disbursement of 
Federal financial aid to the student, the institution, in 
accordance with procedures established by the Secretary, 
determined that a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud was 
not present by confirming the identity of such student using 
in-person verification or live, synchronous audiovisual 
verification and notified the Secretary that the identity of 
the student has been verified, and maintains a record of such 
identity verification.''.
(c) Special Considerations.--Section 498A of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099c-1) is further amended by adding at the end 
the following:
``(f) Special Considerations.--Identification of an institution 
under subsection (a)(4)--
``(1) may be used to inform program reviews, audits, 
investigations, and other oversight activities authorized under 
this title; and
``(2) shall not, by itself, constitute a determination that 
such institution has failed to meet the requirements of this 
title.''.
Union Calendar No. 582

119th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 7891

[Report No. 119-668]

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend section 498A of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require 
the Secretary of Education to prioritize program reviews of 
institutions of higher education that disburse Federal financial aid 
under title IV of such Act without verifying the identity of a student 
whose FAFSA presents a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud.

_______________________________________________________________________

May 26, 2026

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed