PROTECT Students Act of 2025

Key Points

• This bill creates strict rules for career training programs to ensure students aren't left with more debt than they can afford. If a program's graduates don't earn enough money to pay back their loans or don't earn more than a typical high school graduate, the school could lose its access to federal funding.
• It makes it easier for students to have their federal loans canceled if their school lied to them, used high-pressure sales tactics, or closed down suddenly. It also stops schools from forcing students to sign away their right to sue in court, allowing students to take legal action if they are cheated.
• Colleges would be required to spend at least 30 percent of the money they get from tuition on actual teaching and student services. This is meant to stop schools from spending most of their money on expensive TV ads and recruiters instead of helping students learn.
• Schools would no longer be allowed to hold a student's official transcripts hostage because of unpaid bills. Additionally, the Department of Education would create a new system to track student complaints and publicly report which schools have the most problems.
• A new enforcement team would be created to investigate schools that use deceptive practices. This team would even use "secret shoppers" to see if recruiters are lying to potential students about things like job placement rates or how much a degree is actually worth.