Change of Ownership and Conversion Improvement Act

This bill revises the application and review process for institutions of higher education (IHEs) to change ownership or for a proprietary (i.e., for-profit) IHE to convert to public or other nonprofit status.

Specifically, the bill (1) establishes a pretransaction review application, and (2) requires an IHE to pay an administrative fee to the Department of Education (ED) for change in ownership or conversion transactions or pretransaction reviews. In the case of a for-profit IHE seeking conversion or a pretransaction review for conversion, ED must remit 50% of the administrative fee to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to determine whether the IHE is exempt from tax and is otherwise in compliance with the applicable requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (IRC).

The bill establishes time frames for ED to approve or deny applications. The bill also includes various reporting requirements.

An IHE that has been approved for conversion by ED must be subject to a five-year monitoring period and must also pay an annual fee for this monitoring. ED must remit 50% of the annual fee to the IRS for monitoring the IHE's compliance with the IRC.

Summary by the Congressional Research Service.