PROPEL Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 625 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to expand eligibility for participation in the Federal Pell Grant program to certain trade schools. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 16, 2019 Mr. WITTMAN 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 expand eligibility for participation in the Federal Pell Grant program to certain trade schools. 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 ‘‘Professional Pell Edu- 4 cation Learning Act’’ or the ‘‘PROPEL Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FEDERAL PELL GRANTS. 6 (a) CLARIFICATION OF ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS.— 7 Section 401(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 8 U.S.C. 1070a(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 9 following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H625.IH H625 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 625 IH ‘‘(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of 1 this Act, for purposes of this section, the terms ‘eli- 2 gible institution’, ‘institution of higher education’, 3 ‘eligible program’, and ‘institution’ include a pro- 4 gram of education that— 5 ‘‘(A) consists of vocational or technical 6 training, flight training, or apprenticeship or 7 other on-job training; 8 ‘‘(B) an individual may pursue using edu- 9 cational assistance pursuant to section 3313(g) 10 of title 38, United States Code; 11 ‘‘(C) is less than 600 clock hours of in- 12 struction, 16 semester hours, or 24 quarter 13 hours, offered during a period of less than 15 14 weeks; 15 ‘‘(D) is not required to be accredited by a 16 nationally recognized accrediting agency or as- 17 sociation recognized by the Secretary pursuant 18 to part H; 19 ‘‘(E) is not required to lead to a recognized 20 educational credential; 21 ‘‘(F) for purposes of the reporting require- 22 ments under section 132(i), reports on all en- 23 rolled students without regard to whether a stu- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H625.IH H625 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 625 IH dent is a first-time, full-time, degree- or certifi- 1 cate-seeking student; and 2 ‘‘(G) except as otherwise provided in sub- 3 paragraphs (A) through (F) of this paragraph, 4 meets the requirements of this title for an insti- 5 tution to participate in the program under this 6 section.’’. 7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 484(a)(1) 8 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 9 1091(a)(1)) is amended by inserting ‘‘or, for purposes of 10 the Federal Pell Grant program under section 401, a pro- 11 gram of education described in section 401(a)(4)’’ after 12 ‘‘section 487’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 Jan 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H625.IH H625 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS