116th CONGRESS 1st Session |
To expand access to graduate education by amending the Federal Pell Grant program to include postbaccalaureate study.
June 19, 2019
Ms. Kuster of New Hampshire (for herself, Mr. Burchett, Ms. Schrier, Mr. Upton, and Mr. Rouda) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor
To expand access to graduate education by amending the Federal Pell Grant program to include postbaccalaureate study.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Expanding Access to Graduate Education Act of 2019”.
SEC. 2. Federal Pell Grants for graduate students.
Section 401 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting “or as a postbaccalaureate student in accordance with subsection (c)(1),” after “as an undergraduate,”; and
(2) by amending subsection (c)(1) to read as follows:
“(c) Period of eligibility for grants.— (1) The period during which a student may receive Federal Pell Grants shall be the period required for the completion of the first undergraduate baccalaureate course of study being pursued by that student at the institution at which the student is in attendance except that—
“(A) any period during which the student is enrolled in a noncredit or remedial course of study as defined in paragraph (2) shall not be counted for the purpose of this paragraph; and
“(B) the period during which a student may receive Federal Pell Grants shall also include the period required for the completion of the first postbaccalaureate course of study in a case in which—
“(i) the student received a Federal Pell Grant during the period required for the completion of the student’s first undergraduate baccalaureate course of study for at least 1 but fewer than 12 semesters, or the equivalent of at least 1 but fewer than 12 semesters, as determined under paragraph (5);
“(ii) the student would otherwise be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant, but for the completion of such baccalaureate course of study; and
“(iii) the period during which the student receives Federal Pell Grants does not exceed the student’s duration limits under paragraph (5).”.