((a)) Once each year, the Secretary of Defense shall adjust the amount of educational assistance which may be provided to any person in any standard academic year under , and the amount of the subsistence allowance authorized under for pursuit of a course of instruction on a full-time basis, in a manner consistent with the change over the preceding twelve-month period in the average actual cost of attendance at public institutions of higher education.

((b)) In this section, the term “actual cost of attendance” has the meaning given the term “cost of attendance” by section 472 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ().