Official Summaries

Mel's Law

This bill requires institutions of higher education (IHEs) that participate in federal student aid programs to establish policies for awarding posthumous degrees.

Specifically, the IHE must certify that it has a policy to award a posthumous degree to a deceased student who (1) was enrolled in a degree program at the IHE; (2) died prior to completing such program; and (3) at the time of death, was in academic standing consistent with the requirements for graduation from such program (as determined by the IHE).

The bill prohibits accrediting agencies from taking into consideration the number of posthumous degrees awarded to deceased students by the IHE. (Under current law, an IHE must be accredited by an accrediting agency to participate in federal student aid programs.)

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 468 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 468

 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of 
  higher education, as a condition of participation in programs under 
title IV of such Act, to establish a policy to award posthumous degrees 
         to certain deceased students, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 15, 2025

Ms. Velazquez (for herself, Ms. Malliotakis, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Tonko, 
  Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, and Mrs. McIver) introduced the following 
  bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of 
  higher education, as a condition of participation in programs under 
title IV of such Act, to establish a policy to award posthumous degrees 
         to certain deceased students, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Mel's Law''.

SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO AWARD POSTHUMOUS DEGREES.

    (a) Posthumous Degrees.--Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
            ``(30) The institution certifies that the institution has 
        established a policy to award posthumous degrees to deceased 
        students who--
                    ``(A) had been enrolled in a degree program at the 
                institution;
                    ``(B) died prior to completing such program; and
                    ``(C) at the time of death, were in academic 
                standing consistent with the requirements for 
                graduation from such program, as determined by the 
                institution.''.
    (b) Accreditation Criteria.--Section 496(a) of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b(a)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (6) through (8) as 
        paragraphs (7) through (9), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:
            ``(6) the standards for accreditation of the agency or 
        association do not take into consideration the number of 
        posthumous degrees awarded by the institution to deceased 
        students;''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this Act shall take 
effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
Act.
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