College programs must prove graduates earn enough to pay loans.
H.R. 9748 — Protecting Students from Worthless Degrees Act · Filed by Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 16, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill sets rules for college and job-training programs that get federal student aid. Programs must train graduates for licensed jobs in promised states. Programs fail if graduates' yearly loan payments exceed 20% of discretionary income. Programs also fail if payments exceed 8% of total earnings for 2 of 3 years. Failed programs lose federal money for 3 years. Distance-education programs must follow each state's rules.
Who it affects
Students get protection when programs must train them for real jobs. Colleges lose federal aid if their programs fail. Taxpayers stop paying for programs that burden graduates with debt.
One thing to notice
Programs in lower-paying fields like social work may fail the earnings test. This could reduce training in these fields.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Democrats.
- Jul 16, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 16, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- federal student aid — Money the U.S. government gives to help students pay for college.
- discretionary income — Money left over after paying for basic needs like food and housing.
- distance-education — Classes taught online or by mail instead of in a classroom.
- licensed — Officially approved by a state to do a certain job.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (24,537 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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