Making Education Affordable and Accessible Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4090 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make college affordable and accessible. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 23, 2021 Mr. HARDER of California (for himself and Mr. REED) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make college affordable and accessible. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Making Education Af- 4 fordable and Accessible Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CREDIT-BASED ACADEMIC TRANSITION PROGRAMS. 6 Part B of title VII of the Higher Education Act of 7 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1138 et seq.) is amended— 8 (1) by redesignating section 745 as section 746; 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4090.IH H4090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4090 IH (2) in section 746, as redesignated by para- 1 graph (1), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 2009’’ and insert- 2 ing ‘‘fiscal year 2022’’; and 3 (3) by inserting after section 744 the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 745. CREDIT-BASED ACADEMIC TRANSITION PRO- 5 GRAMS. 6 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to ex- 7 pand access for high school students to the opportunities 8 offered in credit-based academic transition programs es- 9 tablished through partnerships between high schools and 10 institutions of higher education utilizing dual or concur- 11 rent enrollment programs or early college high school pro- 12 grams that enable such students to earn postsecondary 13 credits while in high school. 14 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—In this section, the 15 term ‘eligible institution’ means an institution of higher 16 education that carries out a dual or concurrent enrollment 17 program or an early college high school program that en- 18 ables high school students to earn postsecondary credits 19 while in high school. 20 ‘‘(c) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 21 award grants to eligible institutions to carry out credit- 22 based academic transition programs described in sub- 23 section (a). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4090.IH H4090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4090 IH ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—An eligible institution that de- 1 sires to receive a grant under this section shall submit to 2 the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 3 and containing such information as the Secretary may re- 4 quire. 5 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec- 6 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible institu- 7 tions that serve students from low-income families, stu- 8 dents from rural communities, or students who are the 9 first in their family to receive postsecondary education. 10 ‘‘(f) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible institution that re- 11 ceives a grant under this section shall use the grant 12 funds— 13 ‘‘(1) to carry out a dual or concurrent enroll- 14 ment program or an early college high school pro- 15 gram for high school students, through which such 16 students while enrolled in high school are enrolled in 17 postsecondary courses at the eligible institution, 18 through which such students can earn postsecondary 19 credits that can be transferred to 2-year and 4-year 20 institutions of higher education in the State; 21 ‘‘(2) to provide teachers, principals, and other 22 school leaders with professional development activi- 23 ties that enhance or enable the provision of postsec- 24 ondary coursework through a dual or concurrent en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4090.IH H4090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4090 IH rollment program or an early college high school 1 program; and 2 ‘‘(3) to support activities such as— 3 ‘‘(A) designing the curriculum and se- 4 quence of courses in collaboration with teachers 5 from the local educational agency and faculty 6 from the eligible institution; 7 ‘‘(B) establishing a course articulation 8 process for defining and approving courses for 9 high school and postsecondary credit or creden- 10 tials for both 2-year and 4-year institutions of 11 higher education in the State; 12 ‘‘(C) outreach programs to provide elemen- 13 tary school and secondary school students, espe- 14 cially those in middle grades, and their parents, 15 teachers, school counselors, and principals in- 16 formation about and academic preparation for 17 the credit-based academic transition programs 18 described in subsection (a); 19 ‘‘(D) helping students meet eligibility cri- 20 teria for postsecondary courses and ensuring 21 that students understand how credits earned 22 will transfer to institutions of higher education 23 in the State; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4090.IH H4090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4090 IH ‘‘(E) coordinating secondary and postsec- 1 ondary support services and academic cal- 2 endars. 3 ‘‘(g) FLEXIBILITY OF FUNDS.—An eligible institu- 4 tion that receives a grant under this section may use grant 5 funds for any of the costs associated with carrying out 6 credit-based academic transition programs described in 7 subsection (a), including the costs of— 8 ‘‘(1) tuition and fees, books, and required in- 9 structional materials for such program so that stu- 10 dents will not be required to pay tuition or fees for 11 postsecondary courses; and 12 ‘‘(2) transportation to and from such program. 13 ‘‘(h) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—Each eligible insti- 14 tution receiving a grant under this section shall— 15 ‘‘(1) conduct an independent evaluation of the 16 effectiveness of the activities carried out by such eli- 17 gible institution under this section; and 18 ‘‘(2) prepare and submit to the Secretary a re- 19 port containing the results of the evaluation de- 20 scribed in paragraph (1). 21 ‘‘(i) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 22 tion shall be construed to impose on any State or public 23 institution of higher education any requirement or rule re- 24 garding credit-based academic transition programs de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4090.IH H4090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4090 IH scribed in subsection (a) that is inconsistent with State 1 law.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4090.IH H4090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS