I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1409
To direct the Secretary of Education to carry out a grant program for
skills-for-success courses for all first-year students enrolled at certain
institutions of higher education.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY18, 2025
Mrs. F
OUSHEEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Education to carry out a grant
program for skills-for-success courses for all first-year
students enrolled at certain institutions of higher edu-
cation.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘College Thriving Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED; APPLICATION RE-5
QUIREMENTS. 6
(a) G
RANTPROGRAMAUTHORIZED.—From the 7
amounts available under section 5, the Secretary of Edu-8
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cation shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligi-1
ble institutions to carry out skills-for-success courses for 2
all first-year students enrolled at such institutions. 3
(b) P
RIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec-4
tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible institu-5
tions in which at least 50 percent of all students enrolled 6
during the most recent academic year were eligible to re-7
ceive a Federal Pell Grant under section 401 of the Higher 8
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a) for the award 9
year applicable to such academic year. 10
(c) G
RANTPERIOD; MINIMUMGRANTAMOUNT.— 11
(1) G
RANT PERIOD.—A grant awarded to an el-12
igible institution under this Act shall be for a 5-year 13
grant period. 14
(2) G
RANT AMOUNT.—A grant awarded to an 15
eligible institution under this Act shall be awarded 16
in such an amount as determined necessary by the 17
Secretary for the institution to carry out the activi-18
ties described in section 3. 19
(d) A
PPLICATIONREQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible to 20
receive a grant under this Act, an eligible institution shall 21
submit an application at such time, and in such manner, 22
and containing such information as the Secretary may re-23
quire, which shall include a 24
(1) description of— 25
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(A) the skills-for-success course that the 1
institution will develop and implement with the 2
grant; and 3
(B) the activities the institution will carry 4
out under each phase described in section 3(b); 5
and 6
(2) a request for a specific grant amount, and 7
a justification for such amount. 8
(e) T
ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall, 9
upon request, provide technical assistance to eligible insti-10
tutions in applying for a grant under this Act. In pro-11
viding such technical assistance, the Secretary shall 12
prioritize eligible institutions described in subsection (b). 13
SEC. 3. USES OF FUNDS; REPORT. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Each eligible institution receiving 15
a grant under this section shall develop and implement 16
a skills-for-success course by carrying out the activities 17
listed in each of the 4 phases described in subsection (b). 18
(b) P
HASES FORUSES OFFUNDS.— 19
(1) P
REPARATION PHASE .—During the first 20
year of the grant period, the eligible institution shall 21
use such grant to develop the skills-for-success 22
course and carry out the necessary preparation ac-23
tivities, which may include— 24
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(A) the promotion of relationship building 1
among students who have similar dates of en-2
rollment; 3
(B) identifying and training instructional 4
staff; 5
(C) obtaining support from faculty, staff, 6
or institution administration for the curricular 7
adaptation; 8
(D) developing infrastructure for imple-9
mentation, including obtaining necessary course 10
and syllabus approvals; 11
(E) determining how student registration 12
will be handled; 13
(F) establishing a course evaluation model; 14
and 15
(G) designating appropriate classroom 16
space. 17
(2) P
ILOT PHASE.—During the second year of 18
the grant period, the eligible institution shall use 19
such grant to implement— 20
(A) a pilot skills-for-success course; and 21
(B) a pilot of methods for evaluating the 22
course that includes an evaluation of the impact 23
of such course on student behavior and other 24
impacts, such as observation and solicitation of 25
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feedback from course instructors, students, and 1
identified campus community leaders. 2
(3) I
MPLEMENTATION.—During the third, 3
fourth, and fifth years of the grant program, the eli-4
gible institution shall use such grant to— 5
(A) fully implement the skills-for-success 6
course that— 7
(i) is made available for each first- 8
year student enrolled at the institution, at 9
the beginning of such students’ first term 10
of enrollment at such institution, to the ex-11
tent practicable; and 12
(ii) incorporates the improvements 13
identified— 14
(I) in the case of the third year 15
of the grant program, during the pilot 16
skills-for-success course; or 17
(II) in the case of the fourth and 18
fifth years of the grant program, dur-19
ing the evaluation of the course dur-20
ing the preceding grant year; and 21
(B) evaluate the full implementation of 22
such course using the methods identified as 23
being most effective for such an evaluation— 24
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(i) in the case of the third year of the 1
grant program, during the pilot skills-for- 2
success course; or 3
(ii) in the case of the fourth and fifth 4
years of the grant program, during the 5
preceding grant year. 6
(c) R
EPORT.—Each eligible institution that receives 7
a grant under this Act shall submit to the Secretary a 8
report upon the completion of the 5-year grant period, 9
which shall include— 10
(1) an evaluation of the pilot skills-for-success 11
course, and each of the evaluations completed pursu-12
ant to subsection (b)(3)(B); and 13
(2) a description of how such grant was used 14
during each year of the grant period. 15
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 16
In this Act: 17
(1) E
LIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘eligi-18
ble institution’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘in-19
stitution of higher education’’ in section 101(a) of 20
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 21
1001(a)) and section 102(a)(1)(B) of such Act (20 22
U.S.C.1002(a)(1)(B)). 23
(2) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 24
the Secretary of Education. 25
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(3) SKILLS-FOR-SUCCESS COURSE.—The term 1
‘‘skills-for-success course’’ means a course offered by 2
an eligible institution for first-year students (includ-3
ing transfer students) at the beginning of such stu-4
dents’ first term of enrollment at such institution 5
that— 6
(A) has a low student-to-teacher ratio; 7
(B) is not graded or is pass-fail; and 8
(C) provides skills for success in college, 9
and includes each of the following topics: 10
(i) Development of connections with 11
campus partners (academic advisors) or 12
engagement with campus resources (cam-13
pus mental health counselors). 14
(ii) Mental wellbeing. 15
(iii) Time management skills. 16
(iv) Planning and organization skills. 17
(v) Coping with stress and setbacks. 18
(vi) Managing conflict and difference. 19
(vii) Goal setting. 20
(viii) Building and maintaining 21
healthy interpersonal relationships. 22
(ix) Self-care and compassion. 23
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SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 1
There are authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 2
to carry out this Act, which shall remain available until 3
expended. 4
Æ
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