Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB496 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 118THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 496
55 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to extend Federal Pell Grant
66 eligibility to certain short-term workforce programs.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 JANUARY25, 2023
99 Ms. S
1010 TEFANIK(for herself, Ms. FOXX, Mr. BANKS, Mrs. HINSON, and Mr.
1111 T
1212 HOMPSONof Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was re-
1313 ferred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
1414 A BILL
1515 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to extend
1616 Federal Pell Grant eligibility to certain short-term work-
1717 force programs.
1818 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1919 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2020 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2121 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Employ-4
2222 ment and Lifelong Learning Act’’ or the ‘‘PELL Act’’. 5
2323 SEC. 2. PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY FOR WORKFORCE PELL 6
2424 GRANTS. 7
2525 Section 481(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 8
2626 (20 U.S.C. 1088(b)) is amended— 9
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3030 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as 1
3131 paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively; and 2
3232 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-3
3333 lowing: 4
3434 ‘‘(3) (A) A program is an eligible program for 5
3535 purposes of the Workforce Pell Grants program 6
3636 under section 401(k) only if— 7
3737 ‘‘(i) it is at least 150 clock hours of in-8
3838 struction, but not more than 600 clock hours of 9
3939 instruction, or an equivalent number of credit 10
4040 hours, offered during a minimum of 8 weeks, 11
4141 but not more than 15 weeks; 12
4242 ‘‘(ii) it is determined by an accrediting 13
4343 agency or association recognized by the Sec-14
4444 retary pursuant to section 496(a) to— 15
4545 ‘‘(I) provide an education aligned with 16
4646 the requirements of in-demand industry 17
4747 sectors or occupations, as defined in sec-18
4848 tion 3 of the Workforce Innovation and 19
4949 Opportunity Act; 20
5050 ‘‘(II) meet the hiring requirements of 21
5151 potential employers in the sectors or occu-22
5252 pations described in subclause (I); 23
5353 ‘‘(III) have been offered by an institu-24
5454 tion for not less than 1 year prior to a de-25
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5858 termination by such agency or association 1
5959 under this paragraph; 2
6060 ‘‘(IV) have a verified completion rate 3
6161 of at least 70 percent, calculated so as to 4
6262 ensure that a student shall be counted as 5
6363 a completion if the student completes the 6
6464 program within 150 percent of the normal 7
6565 time for completion; and 8
6666 ‘‘(V) have verified a job placement 9
6767 rate of at least 70 percent; and 10
6868 ‘‘(iii) for each award year, the total 11
6969 amount of the published tuition and fees of the 12
7070 program for such year is an amount that does 13
7171 not exceed the value-added earnings of students 14
7272 who received Federal financial aid under this 15
7373 title and who completed the program 3 years 16
7474 prior to the award year, as such earnings are 17
7575 determined by calculating the difference be-18
7676 tween— 19
7777 ‘‘(I) the median earnings of such stu-20
7878 dents, as adjusted by the State and metro-21
7979 politan area regional price parities of the 22
8080 Bureau of Economic Analysis based on the 23
8181 location of such program; and 24
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8585 ‘‘(II) 150 percent of the poverty line 1
8686 applicable to a single individual as deter-2
8787 mined under section 673(2) of the Commu-3
8888 nity Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 4
8989 9902(2)) for such year. 5
9090 ‘‘(B)(i) In the case of a program that has not 6
9191 previously participated in programs under this title 7
9292 and is being determined eligible for the first time 8
9393 under this paragraph, the Secretary may consider 9
9494 such program to be an eligible program for purposes 10
9595 of the Workforce Pell Grants program under section 11
9696 401(k) for a provisional eligibility period that may 12
9797 not exceed 3 years, if such program— 13
9898 ‘‘(I) subject to subclause (II), meets the 14
9999 requirements of subparagraph (A); and 15
100100 ‘‘(II) in lieu of the determination of me-16
101101 dian earnings under subclause (I) of subpara-17
102102 graph (A)(iii), provides to the Secretary for 18
103103 purposes of meeting the requirements of sub-19
104104 paragraph (A)(iii), alternate earnings of stu-20
105105 dents who complete the program, which are sta-21
106106 tistically rigorous, accurate, comparable, and 22
107107 representative of students who complete such 23
108108 program. 24
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112112 ‘‘(ii) In a case in which the Secretary deter-1
113113 mines that a program provided inaccurate earnings 2
114114 data under clause (i)(II) for purposes of receiving 3
115115 provisional eligibility under clause (i), such program 4
116116 shall return to the Secretary any funds received 5
117117 under this title during the period beginning on first 6
118118 date of the provisional eligibility period and ending 7
119119 on the date of determination under this clause. 8
120120 ‘‘(C) The Secretary shall establish an appeals 9
121121 process to permit eligible programs for purposes of 10
122122 the Workforce Pell Grants program under section 11
123123 401(k) to submit alternate earnings data to comply 12
124124 with subparagraph (A)(iii), provided that such data 13
125125 are statistically rigorous, accurate, comparable, and 14
126126 representative of students who receive a Workforce 15
127127 Pell Grant and complete the eligible program.’’. 16
128128 SEC. 3. DATA COLLECTION AND DISSEMINATION RELATED 17
129129 TO WORKFORCE PELL. 18
130130 Section 131 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 19
131131 U.S.C. 1015) is amended by adding at the end the fol-20
132132 lowing: 21
133133 ‘‘(i) D
134134 ATACOLLECTION AND DISSEMINATIONRE-22
135135 LATED TOWORKFORCEPELL.— 23
136136 ‘‘(1) I
137137 N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, on an 24
138138 annual basis, collect, verify, and make publicly avail-25
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142142 able on the College Scorecard or any similar suc-1
143143 cessor website, the information required under 2
144144 clause (i), subclauses (IV) and (V) of clause (ii), and 3
145145 clause (iii), and of subsection (b)(3)(A) of section 4
146146 481, with respect to each eligible program that 5
147147 meets the requirements of section 481(b)(3), includ-6
148148 ing— 7
149149 ‘‘(A) the length of the program (as meas-8
150150 ured in clock hours, credit hours, or weeks); 9
151151 ‘‘(B) the number of students enrolled in 10
152152 the eligible program during the most recent 11
153153 academic year for which data is available; 12
154154 ‘‘(C) the percentage of students who enroll 13
155155 in the eligible program and who complete the 14
156156 eligible program within— 15
157157 ‘‘(i) 150 percent of the normal time 16
158158 for completion of such program; and 17
159159 ‘‘(ii) 200 percent of the normal time 18
160160 for completion of such program; 19
161161 ‘‘(D) the percentage of students who are 20
162162 employed not later than 180 days after com-21
163163 pleting the eligible program; and 22
164164 ‘‘(E) the percentage of individuals— 23
165165 ‘‘(i) who have completed such eligible 24
166166 program; and 25
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170170 ‘‘(ii) 3 years after such completion, 1
171171 whose median earnings exceed 150 percent 2
172172 of the poverty line applicable to a single in-3
173173 dividual, as determined under section 4
174174 673(2) of the Community Services Block 5
175175 Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)). 6
176176 ‘‘(2) E
177177 XCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding any other 7
178178 provision of this subsection, if disclosure of any data 8
179179 under paragraph (1) is prohibited under State or 9
180180 Federal privacy laws or regulations, the Secretary 10
181181 shall take such steps as the Secretary determines 11
182182 necessary to make publicly available such data in ac-12
183183 cordance with such laws and regulations.’’. 13
184184 SEC. 4. WORKFORCE PELL GRANTS. 14
185185 (a) I
186186 NGENERAL.—Section 401 of the Higher Edu-15
187187 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a), as amended by sec-16
188188 tion 703 of the FAFSA Simplification Act (title VII of 17
189189 division FF of Public Law 116–260), is amended by add-18
190190 ing at the end the following: 19
191191 ‘‘(k) W
192192 ORKFORCEPELLGRANTSPROGRAM.— 20
193193 ‘‘(1) I
194194 N GENERAL.—For the award year begin-21
195195 ning on July 1, 2024, and each subsequent award 22
196196 year, the Secretary shall award grants (referred to 23
197197 as ‘Workforce Pell Grants’) to eligible students 24
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201201 under paragraph (2) in accordance with this sub-1
202202 section. 2
203203 ‘‘(2) E
204204 LIGIBLE STUDENTS.—For award year 3
205205 2024–2025 and each succeeding award year, to be 4
206206 eligible to receive a Workforce Pell Grant under this 5
207207 subsection for any period of enrollment, a student 6
208208 shall meet the eligibility requirements for a Federal 7
209209 Pell Grant under this section, except that the stu-8
210210 dent— 9
211211 ‘‘(A) shall be enrolled, or accepted for en-10
212212 rollment, in an eligible program described in 11
213213 section 481(b)(3); and 12
214214 ‘‘(B) may not have received a 13
215215 postbaccalaureate degree. 14
216216 ‘‘(3) T
217217 ERMS AND CONDITIONS OF AWARDS .— 15
218218 The Secretary shall award Workforce Pell Grants 16
219219 under this subsection in the same manner and with 17
220220 the same terms and conditions as the Secretary 18
221221 awards Federal Pell Grants under subsection (b), ex-19
222222 cept that a student who is eligible for a grant equal 20
223223 to less than the amount of the minimum Federal 21
224224 Pell Grant because the eligible workforce develop-22
225225 ment program in which the student is enrolled or ac-23
226226 cepted for enrollment is less than an academic year 24
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230230 (in hours of instruction or weeks of duration) may 1
231231 still be eligible for a Workforce Pell Grant. 2
232232 ‘‘(4) P
233233 REVENTION OF DOUBLE BENEFITS .—No 3
234234 eligible student described in paragraph (2) may, for 4
235235 the same period of enrollment, receive both a grant 5
236236 under this subsection and a Federal Pell Grant 6
237237 under subsection (b).’’. 7
238238 (b) E
239239 FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 8
240240 subsection (a) shall take effect as if included in section 9
241241 703 of the FAFSA Simplification Act (title VII of division 10
242242 FF of Public Law 116–260; 134 Stat. 3191) and in ac-11
243243 cordance with section 701(b) of such Act. 12
244244 SEC. 5. ACCREDITING AGENCY DETERMINATION OF ELIGI-13
245245 BILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE WORK-14
246246 FORCE PELL GRANTS PROGRAM. 15
247247 (a) I
248248 NGENERAL.—Section 496(a)(4) of the Higher 16
249249 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b(a)(4)) is amend-17
250250 ed— 18
251251 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 19
252252 the end; 20
253253 (2) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by inserting ‘‘and’’ 21
254254 at the end; and 22
255255 (3) by adding at the end the following: 23
256256 ‘‘(C) if such agency or association has or seeks 24
257257 to include within its scope of recognition the evalua-25
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261261 tion of the quality of institutions offering an eligible 1
262262 program for purposes of the Workforce Pell Grants 2
263263 program (in accordance with section 481(b)(3)), 3
264264 such agency or association shall, in addition to meet-4
265265 ing the other requirements of this subpart, dem-5
266266 onstrate to the Secretary that, with respect to such 6
267267 eligible programs— 7
268268 ‘‘(i) the agency’s or association’s standards 8
269269 include a process for determining if the institu-9
270270 tion has the capability to effectively offer such 10
271271 an eligible program; and 11
272272 ‘‘(ii) the agency or association requires a 12
273273 demonstration that the program— 13
274274 ‘‘(I) satisfies the requirements of sub-14
275275 paragraph (A)(ii) of section 481(b)(3); and 15
276276 ‘‘(II) provides academic content, an 16
277277 amount of instructional time, and com-17
278278 petencies to satisfy any applicable edu-18
279279 cational requirement so that a student who 19
280280 completes the program and seeks employ-20
281281 ment is qualified to practice or work in the 21
282282 sectors or occupations that the program 22
283283 prepares students to enter;’’. 23
284284 (b) A
285285 DDITIONALNACIQI REVIEWMEETINGS.—For 24
286286 the purpose of preparing for the implementation of the 25
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290290 Workforce Pell Grant program under section 401(k) of the 1
291291 Higher Education Act of 1965 (as added by section 4), 2
292292 in addition to the meetings required under section 3
293293 114(d)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 4
294294 U.S.C. 1011c(d)(1)), the National Advisory Committee on 5
295295 Institutional Quality and Integrity (as established by such 6
296296 section 114) shall, through 2025, hold meetings to evalu-7
297297 ate the additions to the scope of recognition of accrediting 8
298298 agencies and associations with respect to an eligible pro-9
299299 gram for purposes of the Workforce Pell Grants program 10
300300 (in accordance with section 481(b)(3) of the Higher Edu-11
301301 cation Act of 1965, as added by section 2). 12
302302 (c) I
303303 NTERIMACCREDITATIONAUTHORITY.— 13
304304 (1) N
305305 OTIFICATION.—Beginning on the date of 14
306306 enactment of this Act, a qualified accrediting agency 15
307307 or association which seeks to include within its scope 16
308308 of recognition the evaluation of the quality of insti-17
309309 tutions offering eligible programs for the purposes of 18
310310 the Workforce Pell Grants program, may include 19
311311 within its scope of recognition the evaluation of such 20
312312 institutions if the accrediting agency or associa-21
313313 tion— 22
314314 (A) submits to the Secretary a notification 23
315315 of the agency’s or association’s intent to add 24
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319319 the evaluation of such institutions to its scope 1
320320 of recognition; and 2
321321 (B) includes with such notification an ex-3
322322 planation of how the agency or association in-4
323323 tends to meet the criteria under section 5
324324 496(a)(4)(C) of the Higher Education Act of 6
325325 1965 (as added by subsection (a)) with respect 7
326326 to the evaluation of institutions for purposes of 8
327327 the Workforce Pell Grants program. 9
328328 (2) R
329329 EVIEW OF SCOPE OF CHANGES .—Upon re-10
330330 ceipt of a notification from an accrediting agency or 11
331331 association under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 12
332332 direct the National Advisory Committee on Institu-13
333333 tional Quality and Integrity (as established by sec-14
334334 tion 114 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 15
335335 U.S.C. 1011c)) to evaluate, at the next available 16
336336 meeting of such Committee, the addition to the 17
337337 scope of recognition of the agency or association and 18
338338 to advise the Secretary with respect to whether the 19
339339 agency or association meets the criteria under sec-20
340340 tion 496(a)(4)(C) of the Higher Education Act of 21
341341 1965 (as added by subsection (a)). 22
342342 (3) T
343343 ERMINATION OF INTERIM AUTHORITY .— 23
344344 The interim authority under this subsection for an 24
345345 agency or association to include within its scope of 25
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349349 recognition the evaluation of the quality of institu-1
350350 tions offering eligible programs for the purposes of 2
351351 the Workforce Pell Grants program shall terminate 3
352352 on the earlier of— 4
353353 (A) the date that is 5 years after the date 5
354354 of enactment of this Act; or 6
355355 (B) the date on which the Secretary deter-7
356356 mines whether such agency or association meets 8
357357 the criteria under section 496(a)(4)(C) of the 9
358358 Higher Education Act of 1965 (as added by 10
359359 subsection (a)). 11
360360 (4) D
361361 EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 12
362362 (A) The term ‘‘qualified accrediting agency 13
363363 or association’’ means an accrediting agency or 14
364364 association recognized by the Secretary under 15
365365 section 496 of the Higher Education Act of 16
366366 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b) that seeks, for the 17
367367 first time, to add to its scope of recognition the 18
368368 evaluation of the quality of institutions offering 19
369369 an eligible program for purposes of the Work-20
370370 force Pell Grants program. 21
371371 (B) The term ‘‘Workforce Pell Grants pro-22
372372 gram’’ means the Workforce Pell Grant pro-23
373373 gram under section 401(k) of the Higher Edu-24
374374 cation Act of 1965 (as added by section 4). 25
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378378 SEC. 6. ORDERLY IMPLEMENTATION OF WORKFORCE PELL 1
379379 GRANT PROGRAM. 2
380380 The Secretary of Education shall have the authority 3
381381 to take such steps as are necessary before July 1, 2024, 4
382382 to provide for the orderly implementation on such date of 5
383383 the amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965 6
384384 made by this Act. 7
385385 Æ
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