March 12, 2026
Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
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.
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
(3)
by inserting after subparagraph (E) the following:
(F)
institutions identified under paragraph (4); and
(b) Identification of institutions
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 following:
(e) 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 an institution has failed to meet the requirements of this title.