II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 756
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat certain postsecondary
credentialing expenses as qualified higher education expenses for purposes
of 529 accounts.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY26, 2025
Ms. K
LOBUCHAR(for herself, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. WELCH, and Ms. COLLINS)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat cer-
tain postsecondary credentialing expenses as qualified
higher education expenses for purposes of 529 accounts.
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 ‘‘Freedom to Invest in 4
Tomorrow’s Workforce Act’’. 5
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•S 756 IS
SEC. 2. CERTAIN POSTSECONDARY CREDENTIALING EX-1
PENSES TREATED AS QUALIFIED HIGHER 2
EDUCATION EXPENSES FOR PURPOSES OF 3
529 ACCOUNTS. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 529(e)(3) of the Internal 5
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 6
the following new subparagraph: 7
‘‘(C) C
ERTAIN POSTSECONDARY 8
CREDENTIALING EXPENSES .—The term ‘quali-9
fied higher education expenses’ includes quali-10
fied postsecondary credentialing expenses (as 11
defined in subsection (f)).’’. 12
(b) Q
UALIFIEDPOSTSECONDARY CREDENTIALING 13
E
XPENSES.—Section 529 of such Code is amended by re-14
designating subsection (f) as subsection (g) and by insert-15
ing after subsection (e) the following new subsection: 16
‘‘(f) Q
UALIFIEDPOSTSECONDARY CREDENTIALING 17
E
XPENSES.—For purposes of this section— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified post-19
secondary credentialing expenses’ means— 20
‘‘(A) tuition, fees, books, supplies, and 21
equipment required for the enrollment or at-22
tendance of a designated beneficiary in a recog-23
nized postsecondary credential program, or any 24
other expense incurred in connection with en-25
rollment in or attendance at a recognized post-26
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•S 756 IS
secondary credential program if such expense 1
would, if incurred in connection with enrollment 2
or attendance at an eligible educational institu-3
tion, be covered under subsection (e)(3)(A), 4
‘‘(B) fees for testing if such testing is re-5
quired to obtain or maintain a recognized post-6
secondary credential, and 7
‘‘(C) fees for continuing education if such 8
education is required to maintain a recognized 9
postsecondary credential. 10
‘‘(2) R
ECOGNIZED POSTSECONDARY CREDEN -11
TIAL PROGRAM.—The term ‘recognized postsec-12
ondary credential program’ means any program to 13
obtain a recognized postsecondary credential if— 14
‘‘(A) such program is included on a State 15
list prepared under section 122(d) of the Work-16
force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 17
U.S.C. 3152(d)), 18
‘‘(B) such program is listed in the public 19
directory of the Web Enabled Approval Man-20
agement System (WEAMS) of the Veterans 21
Benefits Administration, or successor directory 22
such program, 23
‘‘(C) an examination (developed or admin-24
istered by an organization widely recognized as 25
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•S 756 IS
providing reputable credentials in the occupa-1
tion) is required to obtain or maintain such cre-2
dential and such organization recognizes such 3
program as providing training or education 4
which prepares individuals to take such exam-5
ination, or 6
‘‘(D) such program is identified by the 7
Secretary, after consultation with the Secretary 8
of Labor, as being a reputable program for ob-9
taining a recognized postsecondary credential 10
for purposes of this subparagraph. 11
‘‘(3) R
ECOGNIZED POSTSECONDARY CREDEN -12
TIAL.—The term ‘recognized postsecondary creden-13
tial’ means— 14
‘‘(A) any postsecondary employment cre-15
dential that is industry recognized and is— 16
‘‘(i) any postsecondary employment 17
credential issued by a program that is ac-18
credited by the Institute for Credentialing 19
Excellence, the National Commission on 20
Certifying Agencies, or the American Na-21
tional Standards Institute, 22
‘‘(ii) any postsecondary employment 23
credential that is included in the 24
Credentialing Opportunities On-Line 25
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(COOL) directory of credentialing pro-1
grams (or successor directory) maintained 2
by the Department of Defense or by any 3
branch of the Armed Forces, or 4
‘‘(iii) any postsecondary employment 5
credential identified for purposes of this 6
clause by the Secretary, after consultation 7
with the Secretary of Labor, as being in-8
dustry recognized, 9
‘‘(B) any certificate of completion of an 10
apprenticeship that is registered and certified 11
with the Secretary of Labor under the Act of 12
August 16, 1937 (commonly known as the ‘Na-13
tional Apprenticeship Act’; 50 Stat. 664, chap-14
ter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.), 15
‘‘(C) any occupational or professional li-16
cense issued or recognized by a State or the 17
Federal Government (and any certification that 18
satisfies a condition for obtaining such a li-19
cense), and 20
‘‘(D) any recognized postsecondary creden-21
tial as defined in section 3(52) of the Workforce 22
Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 23
3102(52)), provided through a program de-24
scribed in paragraph (2)(A).’’. 25
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•S 756 IS
(c) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 1
this section shall apply to distributions made after the 2
date of the enactment of this Act. 3
Æ
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