Pell Plus Act of 2019

Pell Plus Act of 2019

This bill establishes the Pell Plus program to award an additional federal Pell Grant, which shall be matched by the institution of enrollment, to third- and fourth-year students who are projected to complete their undergraduate course of study in no more than four academic years.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4608 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4608

   To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to create the Pell Plus 
                                program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 4, 2019

   Mr. Kilmer (for himself, Mrs. Brooks of Indiana, and Mr. Peters) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to create the Pell Plus 
                                program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pell Plus Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. PELL PLUS PROGRAM.

    Section 401(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1070a(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(9) Pell plus program.--(A) For each award year for which 
        a student receives a Federal Pell Grant and meets the 
        requirements of subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall award 
        such student an additional Federal Pell Grant in an amount 
        equal to the amount of the student's Federal Pell Grant award 
        determined under paragraph (2)(A) for such award year.
            ``(B) A student meets the requirements of this 
        subparagraph, if the student--
                    ``(i) during the award year during which the 
                student receives the additional Federal Pell Grant 
                under subparagraph (A)--
                            ``(I) is enrolled in the student's first 
                        undergraduate baccalaureate course of study at 
                        a Pell Plus institution; and
                            ``(II) is maintaining progress toward 
                        completion of such course of study in not more 
                        than a total of 4 academic years; and
                    ``(ii) has completed 4 semesters, or the 
                equivalent, of such course of study.
            ``(C) The period during which a student receives an 
        additional Federal Pell Grant under subparagraph (A) shall be 
        included in calculating the duration limits with respect to 
        such student under subsection (c)(5), and to the extent that 
        such period was a fraction of a semester or the equivalent, 
        only that same fraction of such semester or equivalent shall 
        count towards such duration limits.
            ``(D) For purposes of this paragraph, a Pell Plus 
        institution is an eligible institution for purposes of this 
        subpart that--
                    ``(i) notifies the Secretary that the institution 
                desires to participate in the program under this 
                paragraph;
                    ``(ii) agrees to provide, to each student receiving 
                an additional Federal Pell Grant under subparagraph 
                (A), for each award year for which the student receives 
                such additional Federal Pell Grant--
                            ``(I) a notification about whether the 
                        student is maintaining the progress toward 
                        completion required under subparagraph 
                        (B)(i)(II); and
                            ``(II) an amount of funds--
                                    ``(aa) equal to such additional 
                                Federal Pell Grant; and
                                    ``(bb) using the resources of the 
                                institution, such as--
                                            ``(AA) an institutional 
                                        grant or scholarship;
                                            ``(BB) through a tuition or 
                                        fee waiver; or
                                            ``(CC) foundation or other 
                                        charitable organization funds; 
                                        and
                    ``(iii) the Secretary determines meets the 
                requirements of this subparagraph.''.

SEC. 3. INFORMATION DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES.

    Section 485(a)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1092(a)(1)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (U); and
            (2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (V) 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(W) in the case of an institution that is a Pell 
                Plus institution under section 401(b)(9), any 
                applicable information with respect to the 
                institution's participation in the program under such 
                section.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect with respect to 
award year 2020-2021 and each succeeding award year.
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