Sponsors (12)
Introduced May 21, 2025 by Bernard Sanders · Last progress May 21, 2025
The bill greatly expands federal support to make college more affordable and to strengthen institutions serving underrepresented students, at the cost of substantially increased and potentially open-ended federal spending, greater administrative complexity, and uneven implementation risks for some students and institutions.
Low-income and Pell-eligible students (including Dreamers/DACA/TPS/DED beneficiaries) will receive much larger, inflation-protected Pell Grants that are treated as tax-free scholarships, increasing net aid and reducing out-of-pocket college costs.
Students at eligible public colleges, participating private nonprofit HBCUs/MSIs, and residents of U.S. territories and Freely Associated States could see tuition and required fees reduced or eliminated through partnership-funded coverage, improving access and affordability.
HBCUs, HSIs, PBIs, TCUs and other institutions serving underrepresented and low-income students will receive increased grant funding (including larger subpools for STEM, articulation, and capacity-building), strengthening institutional capacity and supports that can raise graduation and workforce outcomes.
Taxpayers face substantially larger and open-ended federal spending obligations (expanded Pell, tuition-free grant programs, increased TRIO/HBCU funding and 'such sums as may be necessary'), which could increase deficits or require offsets elsewhere in the federal budget.
States, colleges, and grant administrators could face new matching, compliance, and administrative burdens (and need more capacity) to implement expanded programs and grants, creating implementation complexity and potential delays.
The bill creates or preserves uneven eligibility and distribution: benefits target specific institution types (e.g., private nonprofit HBCUs/MSIs, certain subpools) while leaving others out, and changes to Pell time limits risk disadvantaging part-time, stop-out, or nontraditional students.
Based on analysis of 15 sections of legislative text.
Indexes and raises Pell Grants beginning award year 2026–2027, creates a federal–state tuition-elimination partnership and grants for eligible HBCUs/MSIs, and increases authorizations for TRIO, GEAR UP, and other higher-education funds.
Creates a framework to expand federal support for college by establishing a federal–state partnership to eliminate tuition and required fees at eligible institutions, authorizing grants to cover tuition and fees at eligible private nonprofit HBCUs and MSIs, and sharply increasing and indexing Federal Pell Grant maximums. It also raises authorized funding levels for student-success programs (TRIO, GEAR UP, other education funds), modifies Pell lifetime eligibility rules, and preserves existing federal obligations under the Snyder Act for Indian services. Many sections in the provided text are placeholders or addenda without operative language; the most concrete changes set new Pell maximums and index them to inflation starting in award year 2026–2027, authorize open-ended appropriations for Pell beginning FY2026, increase multi-year authorizations for TRIO and GEAR UP beginning FY2026, and double certain discretionary higher-education fund authorizations beginning FY2026.