Strengthening Financial Aid for Students Act (Strengthening FAFSA)

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4216 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase support for working students, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 30, 2019 Mr. DELGADO (for himself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. VAN DREW, and Mr. FITZPATRICK) 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 increase support for working students, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Strengthening Finan- 4 cial Aid for Students Act (Strengthening FAFSA)’’. 5 SEC. 2. INCREASING SUPPORT FOR WORKING STUDENTS 6 BY 35 PERCENT. 7 (a) DEPENDENT STUDENTS.—Section 475(g)(2)(D) 8 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 9 1087oo(g)(2)(D)) is amended to read as follows: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Aug 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4216.IH H4216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4216 IH ‘‘(D) an income protection allowance (or a 1 successor amount prescribed by the Secretary 2 under section 478) of $9,230 for award year 3 2020–2021;’’. 4 (b) INDEPENDENT STUDENTS WITHOUT DEPEND- 5 ENTS OTHER THAN A SPOUSE.—Section 476 of such Act 6 (20 U.S.C. 1087pp) is amended— 7 (1) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ‘‘award pe- 8 riod’’ and inserting ‘‘award year’’; and 9 (2) by amending subsection (b)(1)(A)(iv) to 10 read as follows: 11 ‘‘(iv) an income protection allowance 12 (or a successor amount prescribed by the 13 Secretary under section 478)— 14 ‘‘(I) for single or separated stu- 15 dents, or married students where both 16 are enrolled pursuant to subsection 17 (a)(2), of $14,360 for award year 18 2020–2021; and 19 ‘‘(II) for married students where 20 one is enrolled pursuant to subsection 21 (a)(2), of $23,030 for award year 22 2020–2021;’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Aug 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4216.IH H4216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4216 IH (c) INDEPENDENT STUDENTS WITH DEPENDENTS 1 OTHER THAN A SPOUSE.—Section 477 of such Act (20 2 U.S.C. 1087qq) is amended— 3 (1) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ‘‘award pe- 4 riod’’ and inserting ‘‘award year’’; and 5 (2) by amending subsection (b)(4) to read as 6 follows: 7 ‘‘(4) INCOME PROTECTION ALLOWANCE.—The 8 income protection allowance is determined by the fol- 9 lowing table (or a successor table prescribed by the 10 Secretary under section 478), for award year 2020– 11 2021: 12 ‘‘Income Protection Allowance Family Size Number in College (including student) 1 2 3 4 5 For each additional subtract: 2 $36,370 $30,160 $6,180 3 45,290 39,100 $32,890 4 55,920 49,720 43,540 $37,300 5 65,990 59,750 53,570 47,360 $41,180 6 77,170 70,960 64,790 58,540 52,350 For each additional add: 8,710 ’’. (d) UPDATED TABLES AND AMOUNTS.—Section 478 13 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1087rr) is amended— 14 (1) in subsection (b)— 15 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking subpara- 16 graphs (A) and (B) and inserting the following: 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each award year 18 after award year 2020–2021, the Secretary 19 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Aug 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4216.IH H4216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4216 IH shall publish in the Federal Register a revised 1 table of income protection allowances for the 2 purpose of sections 475(c)(4) and 477(b)(4), 3 subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C). 4 ‘‘(B) TABLE FOR INDEPENDENT STU- 5 DENTS.—For each award year after award year 6 2020–2021, the Secretary shall develop the re- 7 vised table of income protection allowances by 8 increasing each of the dollar amounts contained 9 in the table of income protection allowances 10 under section 477(b)(4) by a percentage equal 11 to the estimated percentage increase in the 12 Consumer Price Index (as determined by the 13 Secretary for the most recent calendar year 14 ending prior to the beginning of the award year 15 for which the determination is being made), and 16 rounding the result up to the nearest $10.’’; 17 and 18 (B) in paragraph (2)— 19 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 20 ‘‘academic year after academic year 2007– 21 2008’’ and inserting ‘‘award year after 22 award year 2020–2021’’; and 23 (ii) in the second sentence, by striking 24 ‘‘shall be developed’’ and all that follows 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Aug 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4216.IH H4216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4216 IH through the period at the end and insert- 1 ing ‘‘shall be developed for each award 2 year after award year 2020–2021, by in- 3 creasing each of the dollar amounts con- 4 tained in such section for award year 5 2020–2021 by a percentage equal to the 6 estimated percentage increase in the Con- 7 sumer Price Index (as determined by the 8 Secretary for the most recent calendar 9 year ending prior to the beginning of the 10 award year for which the determination is 11 being made), and rounding the result up to 12 the nearest $10.’’; and 13 (2) in subsection (e)(1), by striking ‘‘academic 14 year’’ and inserting ‘‘award year’’. 15 SEC. 3. RAISING THE TOTAL SEMESTERS OF FEDERAL PELL 16 GRANT ELIGIBILITY. 17 Section 401(c)(5)(A) of the Higher Education Act of 18 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a(c)(5)) is amended by striking 19 ‘‘12’’ each place the term appears and inserting ‘‘14’’. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Aug 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4216.IH H4216 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS