| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1409 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To direct the Secretary of Education to carry out a grant program for |
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| 6 | 6 | | skills-for-success courses for all first-year students enrolled at certain |
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| 7 | 7 | | institutions of higher education. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY18, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mrs. F |
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| 11 | 11 | | OUSHEEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the |
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| 12 | 12 | | Committee on Education and Workforce |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To direct the Secretary of Education to carry out a grant |
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| 15 | 15 | | program for skills-for-success courses for all first-year |
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| 16 | 16 | | students enrolled at certain institutions of higher edu- |
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| 17 | 17 | | cation. |
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| 18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘College Thriving Act’’. 4 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED; APPLICATION RE-5 |
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| 23 | 23 | | QUIREMENTS. 6 |
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| 24 | 24 | | (a) G |
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| 25 | 25 | | RANTPROGRAMAUTHORIZED.—From the 7 |
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| 26 | 26 | | amounts available under section 5, the Secretary of Edu-8 |
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| 28 | 28 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | •HR 1409 IH |
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| 30 | 30 | | cation shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligi-1 |
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| 31 | 31 | | ble institutions to carry out skills-for-success courses for 2 |
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| 32 | 32 | | all first-year students enrolled at such institutions. 3 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (b) P |
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| 34 | 34 | | RIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec-4 |
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| 35 | 35 | | tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible institu-5 |
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| 36 | 36 | | tions in which at least 50 percent of all students enrolled 6 |
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| 37 | 37 | | during the most recent academic year were eligible to re-7 |
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| 38 | 38 | | ceive a Federal Pell Grant under section 401 of the Higher 8 |
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| 39 | 39 | | Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a) for the award 9 |
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| 40 | 40 | | year applicable to such academic year. 10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (c) G |
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| 42 | 42 | | RANTPERIOD; MINIMUMGRANTAMOUNT.— 11 |
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| 43 | 43 | | (1) G |
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| 44 | 44 | | RANT PERIOD.—A grant awarded to an el-12 |
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| 45 | 45 | | igible institution under this Act shall be for a 5-year 13 |
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| 46 | 46 | | grant period. 14 |
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| 47 | 47 | | (2) G |
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| 48 | 48 | | RANT AMOUNT.—A grant awarded to an 15 |
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| 49 | 49 | | eligible institution under this Act shall be awarded 16 |
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| 50 | 50 | | in such an amount as determined necessary by the 17 |
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| 51 | 51 | | Secretary for the institution to carry out the activi-18 |
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| 52 | 52 | | ties described in section 3. 19 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (d) A |
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| 54 | 54 | | PPLICATIONREQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible to 20 |
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| 55 | 55 | | receive a grant under this Act, an eligible institution shall 21 |
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| 56 | 56 | | submit an application at such time, and in such manner, 22 |
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| 57 | 57 | | and containing such information as the Secretary may re-23 |
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| 58 | 58 | | quire, which shall include a 24 |
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| 59 | 59 | | (1) description of— 25 |
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| 62 | 62 | | •HR 1409 IH |
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| 63 | 63 | | (A) the skills-for-success course that the 1 |
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| 64 | 64 | | institution will develop and implement with the 2 |
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| 65 | 65 | | grant; and 3 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (B) the activities the institution will carry 4 |
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| 67 | 67 | | out under each phase described in section 3(b); 5 |
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| 68 | 68 | | and 6 |
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| 69 | 69 | | (2) a request for a specific grant amount, and 7 |
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| 70 | 70 | | a justification for such amount. 8 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (e) T |
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| 72 | 72 | | ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall, 9 |
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| 73 | 73 | | upon request, provide technical assistance to eligible insti-10 |
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| 74 | 74 | | tutions in applying for a grant under this Act. In pro-11 |
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| 75 | 75 | | viding such technical assistance, the Secretary shall 12 |
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| 76 | 76 | | prioritize eligible institutions described in subsection (b). 13 |
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| 77 | 77 | | SEC. 3. USES OF FUNDS; REPORT. 14 |
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| 78 | 78 | | (a) I |
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| 79 | 79 | | NGENERAL.—Each eligible institution receiving 15 |
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| 80 | 80 | | a grant under this section shall develop and implement 16 |
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| 81 | 81 | | a skills-for-success course by carrying out the activities 17 |
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| 82 | 82 | | listed in each of the 4 phases described in subsection (b). 18 |
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| 83 | 83 | | (b) P |
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| 84 | 84 | | HASES FORUSES OFFUNDS.— 19 |
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| 85 | 85 | | (1) P |
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| 86 | 86 | | REPARATION PHASE .—During the first 20 |
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| 87 | 87 | | year of the grant period, the eligible institution shall 21 |
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| 88 | 88 | | use such grant to develop the skills-for-success 22 |
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| 89 | 89 | | course and carry out the necessary preparation ac-23 |
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| 90 | 90 | | tivities, which may include— 24 |
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| 92 | 92 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 |
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| 93 | 93 | | •HR 1409 IH |
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| 94 | 94 | | (A) the promotion of relationship building 1 |
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| 95 | 95 | | among students who have similar dates of en-2 |
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| 96 | 96 | | rollment; 3 |
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| 97 | 97 | | (B) identifying and training instructional 4 |
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| 98 | 98 | | staff; 5 |
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| 99 | 99 | | (C) obtaining support from faculty, staff, 6 |
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| 100 | 100 | | or institution administration for the curricular 7 |
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| 101 | 101 | | adaptation; 8 |
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| 102 | 102 | | (D) developing infrastructure for imple-9 |
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| 103 | 103 | | mentation, including obtaining necessary course 10 |
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| 104 | 104 | | and syllabus approvals; 11 |
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| 105 | 105 | | (E) determining how student registration 12 |
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| 106 | 106 | | will be handled; 13 |
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| 107 | 107 | | (F) establishing a course evaluation model; 14 |
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| 108 | 108 | | and 15 |
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| 109 | 109 | | (G) designating appropriate classroom 16 |
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| 110 | 110 | | space. 17 |
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| 111 | 111 | | (2) P |
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| 112 | 112 | | ILOT PHASE.—During the second year of 18 |
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| 113 | 113 | | the grant period, the eligible institution shall use 19 |
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| 114 | 114 | | such grant to implement— 20 |
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| 115 | 115 | | (A) a pilot skills-for-success course; and 21 |
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| 116 | 116 | | (B) a pilot of methods for evaluating the 22 |
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| 117 | 117 | | course that includes an evaluation of the impact 23 |
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| 118 | 118 | | of such course on student behavior and other 24 |
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| 119 | 119 | | impacts, such as observation and solicitation of 25 |
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| 121 | 121 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 |
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| 122 | 122 | | •HR 1409 IH |
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| 123 | 123 | | feedback from course instructors, students, and 1 |
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| 124 | 124 | | identified campus community leaders. 2 |
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| 125 | 125 | | (3) I |
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| 126 | 126 | | MPLEMENTATION.—During the third, 3 |
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| 127 | 127 | | fourth, and fifth years of the grant program, the eli-4 |
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| 128 | 128 | | gible institution shall use such grant to— 5 |
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| 129 | 129 | | (A) fully implement the skills-for-success 6 |
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| 130 | 130 | | course that— 7 |
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| 131 | 131 | | (i) is made available for each first- 8 |
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| 132 | 132 | | year student enrolled at the institution, at 9 |
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| 133 | 133 | | the beginning of such students’ first term 10 |
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| 134 | 134 | | of enrollment at such institution, to the ex-11 |
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| 135 | 135 | | tent practicable; and 12 |
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| 136 | 136 | | (ii) incorporates the improvements 13 |
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| 137 | 137 | | identified— 14 |
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| 138 | 138 | | (I) in the case of the third year 15 |
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| 139 | 139 | | of the grant program, during the pilot 16 |
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| 140 | 140 | | skills-for-success course; or 17 |
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| 141 | 141 | | (II) in the case of the fourth and 18 |
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| 142 | 142 | | fifth years of the grant program, dur-19 |
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| 143 | 143 | | ing the evaluation of the course dur-20 |
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| 144 | 144 | | ing the preceding grant year; and 21 |
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| 145 | 145 | | (B) evaluate the full implementation of 22 |
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| 146 | 146 | | such course using the methods identified as 23 |
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| 147 | 147 | | being most effective for such an evaluation— 24 |
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| 150 | 150 | | •HR 1409 IH |
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| 151 | 151 | | (i) in the case of the third year of the 1 |
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| 152 | 152 | | grant program, during the pilot skills-for- 2 |
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| 153 | 153 | | success course; or 3 |
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| 154 | 154 | | (ii) in the case of the fourth and fifth 4 |
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| 155 | 155 | | years of the grant program, during the 5 |
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| 156 | 156 | | preceding grant year. 6 |
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| 157 | 157 | | (c) R |
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| 158 | 158 | | EPORT.—Each eligible institution that receives 7 |
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| 159 | 159 | | a grant under this Act shall submit to the Secretary a 8 |
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| 160 | 160 | | report upon the completion of the 5-year grant period, 9 |
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| 161 | 161 | | which shall include— 10 |
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| 162 | 162 | | (1) an evaluation of the pilot skills-for-success 11 |
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| 163 | 163 | | course, and each of the evaluations completed pursu-12 |
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| 164 | 164 | | ant to subsection (b)(3)(B); and 13 |
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| 165 | 165 | | (2) a description of how such grant was used 14 |
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| 166 | 166 | | during each year of the grant period. 15 |
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| 167 | 167 | | SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 16 |
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| 168 | 168 | | In this Act: 17 |
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| 169 | 169 | | (1) E |
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| 170 | 170 | | LIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘eligi-18 |
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| 171 | 171 | | ble institution’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘in-19 |
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| 172 | 172 | | stitution of higher education’’ in section 101(a) of 20 |
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| 173 | 173 | | the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 21 |
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| 174 | 174 | | 1001(a)) and section 102(a)(1)(B) of such Act (20 22 |
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| 175 | 175 | | U.S.C.1002(a)(1)(B)). 23 |
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| 176 | 176 | | (2) S |
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| 177 | 177 | | ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 24 |
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| 178 | 178 | | the Secretary of Education. 25 |
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| 180 | 180 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7 |
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| 181 | 181 | | •HR 1409 IH |
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| 182 | 182 | | (3) SKILLS-FOR-SUCCESS COURSE.—The term 1 |
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| 183 | 183 | | ‘‘skills-for-success course’’ means a course offered by 2 |
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| 184 | 184 | | an eligible institution for first-year students (includ-3 |
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| 185 | 185 | | ing transfer students) at the beginning of such stu-4 |
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| 186 | 186 | | dents’ first term of enrollment at such institution 5 |
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| 187 | 187 | | that— 6 |
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| 188 | 188 | | (A) has a low student-to-teacher ratio; 7 |
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| 189 | 189 | | (B) is not graded or is pass-fail; and 8 |
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| 190 | 190 | | (C) provides skills for success in college, 9 |
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| 191 | 191 | | and includes each of the following topics: 10 |
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| 192 | 192 | | (i) Development of connections with 11 |
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| 193 | 193 | | campus partners (academic advisors) or 12 |
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| 194 | 194 | | engagement with campus resources (cam-13 |
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| 195 | 195 | | pus mental health counselors). 14 |
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| 196 | 196 | | (ii) Mental wellbeing. 15 |
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| 197 | 197 | | (iii) Time management skills. 16 |
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| 198 | 198 | | (iv) Planning and organization skills. 17 |
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| 199 | 199 | | (v) Coping with stress and setbacks. 18 |
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| 200 | 200 | | (vi) Managing conflict and difference. 19 |
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| 201 | 201 | | (vii) Goal setting. 20 |
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| 202 | 202 | | (viii) Building and maintaining 21 |
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| 203 | 203 | | healthy interpersonal relationships. 22 |
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| 204 | 204 | | (ix) Self-care and compassion. 23 |
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| 207 | 207 | | •HR 1409 IH |
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| 208 | 208 | | SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 1 |
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| 209 | 209 | | There are authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 2 |
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| 210 | 210 | | to carry out this Act, which shall remain available until 3 |
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| 211 | 211 | | expended. 4 |
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| 212 | 212 | | Æ |
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