Sponsor
James E. Banks
Senator · R-IN
Senator · R-IN
The bill shifts federal higher‑education support toward larger, more formulaic, race‑neutral Pell aid—benefiting many low‑income students with more predictable grants—while substantially reducing race‑conscious, institution‑targeted funding and supports that numerous minority‑serving institutions and their students rely on.
Low-income students (Federal Pell recipients) receive larger and additional Pell aid, increasing direct college funding per eligible undergraduate.
Pell-related funding is more predictable and formula-driven—explicit allocation amounts, a statutory top‑up tied to Chained CPI‑U, and two‑year availability for appropriations—help institutions and students plan.
Students at non‑racially‑designated colleges gain access to federal grants under race‑neutral, need‑based rules, shifting support toward eligibility based on Pell receipt rather than institutional racial composition.
Students and communities served by Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), HSIs, HBCUs, TCUs, and other race‑designated campuses risk losing targeted grant funding and campus supports, reducing services and resources for historically underserved racial/ethnic groups.
Removing race‑conscious eligibility and prohibiting consideration of institutional racial/ethnic composition eliminates tools used to address racial disparities, likely weakening targeted outreach, recruitment, and diversity efforts (including STEM pipelines) for underrepresented students.
Institutions that previously relied on MSI/HSI/Title V formulas or competitive preferences may lose eligibility or see reduced funding (including cuts to HBCU/TCU lines and certain agricultural education grants), harming campus programs and local economies.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Eliminates many race/ethnicity‑targeted MSI authorities, bars racial/ethnic preferences for institutions receiving federal funds, and establishes a formula to increase Pell Grants beginning 2028–2029.
Official title: Eliminate certain higher education funding to certain minority-serving institutions, and for other purposes.
Introduced December 11, 2025 by James E. Banks · Last progress December 11, 2025
Prohibits federal consideration of race or ethnicity in college admissions and many higher-education grant awards, removes or replaces statutory authorities for race- or ethnicity‑targeted Minority‑Serving Institution (MSI) programs, and redirects federal higher-education policy and funding priorities toward serving students who receive Federal Pell Grants. It also creates a new recurring Pell Grant increase mechanism tied to savings from eliminating MSI-targeted authorities and requires federal agencies to identify and report statutory provisions that allocate funding or preferences to MSIs. The bill rewrites eligibility language across the Higher Education Act and related research grant statutes (including certain NSF authorities), repeals Title V and other named provisions for Hispanic‑serving and other MSIs, and adds nondiscrimination rules prohibiting racial/ethnic preferences, quotas, or admissions discrimination by institutions that receive federal grants. It establishes a formula to appropriate an annual supplemental Pell amount beginning with award year 2028–2029 based on savings produced by the statutory changes and indexed for inflation thereafter.