Sponsors (2)
The bill strengthens federal enforcement of immigration-related hiring at colleges—improving compliance and oversight by tying aid to E-Verify—but risks disrupting student aid, imposing costs on institutions, and deterring or harming immigrant students and colleges that rely on federal funds.
Students and campus employers: requiring colleges that participate in federal student aid to use E-Verify makes it more likely campus jobs are held only by authorized workers, reducing unauthorized employment on campuses.
Colleges and federal policymakers: linking federal aid eligibility to employment-verification and using a 'notwithstanding' clause gives the Department of Education a clearer, stronger enforcement tool to prevent institutions from evading immigration-related hiring rules.
Students at institutions that comply with the rules: actions that target noncompliant schools help protect federal aid program integrity so students at compliant institutions are less likely to see their aid disrupted because of other institutions' violations.
Students at penalized institutions: students may lose access to federal student aid or face abrupt interruptions in financial aid even if they themselves complied with rules, disrupting enrollment and education plans.
Colleges (and local economies): institutions that depend heavily on federal student aid risk severe financial strain or closure if sanctioned, threatening jobs, community services, and local economic activity.
Immigrant students and staff: linking federal aid and campus employment to immigration enforcement (E-Verify) can reduce access to campus jobs, deter enrollment or participation by immigrant communities, and raise personal enforcement risks.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Conditions federal student aid and institutional federal aid on college participation in E‑Verify and bars schools that unlawfully employ workers under 8 U.S.C. §1324a.
Official title: To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit an institution of higher education that employs unauthorized aliens from receiving funds from Federal student assistance or Federal institutional aid and to require institutions of higher education to participate in the E-Verify Program in order to be eligible to participate in any program authorized under title IV of such Act.
Introduced March 26, 2025 by Erin Houchin · Last progress March 26, 2025
Makes participation in the federal E-Verify employment verification system a required continuing condition for institutions to receive federal student aid and other federal higher-education institutional assistance. Schools that knowingly employ unauthorized workers in violation of the immigration statute (8 U.S.C. §1324a) or that fail to participate in E-Verify become ineligible for federal student financial aid and institutional aid; DHS must monitor E-Verify participation every six months and notify ED within 10 days of nonparticipation or violations.