Sponsors
The bill shifts federal higher‑education support toward Pell‑based, race‑neutral funding—benefiting low‑income students with predictable, inflation‑indexed aid and greater transparency—while substantially reducing or eliminating race‑targeted institutional programs, which risks cutting resources and tailored supports for historically underrepresented campuses and the communities they serve.
Low-income students (Pell recipients) will receive larger, predictable Pell awards and prioritized access to many grant programs, with increases indexed to inflation to help preserve purchasing power over time.
Colleges that serve high proportions of Pell recipients will be prioritized for strengthened Title IV and other grant funding, directing more resources toward institutions serving low‑income students rather than race‑based eligibility.
The bill guarantees specific annual allocations for certain institutions (e.g., $85,000,000 and $30,000,000 for HBCU/TCU‑related grants), providing some predictable funding for those campuses each fiscal year.
Minority‑serving institutions (HBCUs, HSIs, TCUs and other MSIs) and the students they serve face reduced targeted federal grant funding and the elimination or repeal of many race‑defined MSI programs, risking fewer campus resources and supports.
Shifting eligibility from race/ethnicity‑based designations to Pell‑recipient/low‑income metrics may leave gaps: institutions whose mission or community service is tied to racial, cultural, or tribal identity — and middle‑income minority students they serve — could lose access to tailored programs and supports.
Reframing MSI programs as unconstitutional or banning race‑conscious institutional criteria could trigger legal challenges and create uncertainty for campuses and students that currently rely on those awards.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Introduced December 11, 2025 by James E. Banks · Last progress December 11, 2025
Removes race- and ethnicity-based eligibility and preferences from many federal higher-education and research grant programs, repeals or terminates several minority-targeted statutes, and redirects eligibility toward institutions that serve substantial numbers of Federal Pell Grant recipients. It requires federal agencies to stop considering institutional racial/ethnic composition when awarding funds, preserves limited protections for certain tribal and historically Black institutions while replacing many Minority-Serving Institution programs with Pell-focused criteria, and creates a mechanism to increase the Pell Grant per-student award beginning in award year 2028–2029 tied to estimated federal savings and inflation adjustments.