Federal

Making Education Affordable and Accessible Act of 2023

Source: Congress.gov · 1,277 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill makes changes to the Higher Education Act of 1965 to help high school students earn college credits before graduating. It creates a grant program for colleges to work with high schools on dual or concurrent enrollment programs (where students take college classes while in high school) and early college high school programs (where high schools partner with colleges to offer college-level courses).

Who It Affects

High school students, particularly those from low-income families, rural communities, and first-generation college students. Local educational agencies (school districts). Institutions of higher education (colleges and universities). The Secretary of Education.

Key Provisions

• The Secretary of Education can give grants to colleges that run or plan to run dual or concurrent enrollment programs or early college high school programs (Sec. 745(c)). • Colleges applying for grants must describe their partnership with local school districts and explain how they will expand student access to these programs, especially for low-income students, rural students, and first-generation college students (Sec. 745(d) and (e)). • Colleges receiving grants must use the money to cover tuition, fees, books and instructional materials so high school students do not have to pay for postsecondary courses. Colleges can also use up to 20 percent of grant funds for transportation costs (Sec. 745(g)). • Grant funds can pay for teacher professional development, curriculum design, course approval processes, outreach to students and parents, help meeting college requirements, and coordination of support services between high school and college (Sec. 745(f)). • Colleges receiving grants must conduct an independent evaluation and report results to the Secretary (Sec. 745(h)).

What Changes

If this becomes law, the Higher Education Act will include a new grant program allowing colleges to receive federal money to expand dual or concurrent enrollment and early college high school programs. These programs will be required to prioritize serving low-income students, rural students, and first-generation college students. High school students in these programs will have tuition and fees covered by grant funds instead of paying themselves.

Important Definitions

The bill uses the definitions for "dual or concurrent enrollment program," "early college high school," and "high school" from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. These specific definitions are not spelled out in this bill itself. "Eligible institution" means a college or university that carries out or plans to carry out a dual or concurrent enrollment program or early college high school program (Sec. 745(b)). "First-generation college students" are defined in section 402A(h) of the Higher Education Act. This bill does not redefine this term.

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1092 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make college affordable and accessible by expanding access to dual or concurrent enrollment programs and early college high school programs. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 30, 2023 Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. KAINE, and Mr. BRAUN) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make college affordable and accessible by expanding access to dual or concurrent enrollment programs and early college high school programs. 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 of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 Apr 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1092.IS S1092 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1092 IS SEC. 2. DUAL OR CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT PROGRAMS 1 AND EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL. 2 Part B of title VII of the Higher Education Act of 3 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1138 et seq.) is amended— 4 (1) by redesignating section 745 as section 746; 5 (2) in section 746, as redesignated by para- 6 graph (1), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 2009’’ and insert- 7 ing ‘‘fiscal year 2024’’; and 8 (3) by inserting after section 744 the following: 9 ‘‘SEC. 745. DUAL OR CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT PRO- 10 GRAMS AND EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL. 11 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to ex- 12 pand access for high school students to the opportunities 13 offered in dual or concurrent enrollment programs and 14 early college high school programs established through 15 partnerships between local educational agencies and insti- 16 tutions of higher education that enable such students to 17 earn postsecondary credits while enrolled in a public high 18 school. 19 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 20 ‘‘(1) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘dual or 21 concurrent enrollment program’, ‘early college high 22 school’, and ‘high school’ have the same meaning 23 given to those terms in section 8101 of the Elemen- 24 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 25 U.S.C. 7801). 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 Apr 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1092.IS S1092 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1092 IS ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘eligi- 1 ble institution’ means an institution of higher edu- 2 cation that carries out or plans to carry out a dual 3 or concurrent enrollment program or an early college 4 high school program. 5 ‘‘(c) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 6 award grants to eligible institutions to carry out dual or 7 concurrent enrollment programs or early college high 8 school programs. 9 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—An eligible institution that de- 10 sires to receive a grant under this section shall submit to 11 the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 12 and containing such information as the Secretary may re- 13 quire. Such application shall include a description of— 14 ‘‘(1) the partnership between the eligible insti- 15 tution and each local educational agency involved in 16 carrying out the dual or concurrent enrollment pro- 17 gram or early college high school program; and 18 ‘‘(2) how the eligible institution will expand stu- 19 dent access to a dual or concurrent enrollment pro- 20 gram or an early college high school program, espe- 21 cially for students described in subsection (e). 22 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec- 23 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible institu- 24 tions that will use grant funds for dual or concurrent en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 Apr 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1092.IS S1092 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 1092 IS rollment programs or early college high school programs 1 that serve students from low-income families, students 2 from rural communities, or first-generation college stu- 3 dents (as defined in section 402A(h)). 4 ‘‘(f) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible institution that re- 5 ceives a grant under this section shall use the grant funds 6 to carry out a dual or concurrent enrollment program or 7 an early college high school program for students enrolled 8 in a public high school, which may include activities such 9 as— 10 ‘‘(1) providing educators, principals, and other 11 school leaders with professional development activi- 12 ties that enhance or enable the provision of postsec- 13 ondary coursework through a dual or concurrent en- 14 rollment program or an early college high school 15 program; 16 ‘‘(2) designing the curriculum and sequence of 17 courses for a dual or concurrent enrollment program 18 or an early college high school program in collabora- 19 tion with educators from the local educational agen- 20 cy and faculty from the eligible institution; 21 ‘‘(3) establishing a course articulation process 22 for defining and approving courses for high school 23 and postsecondary credit or credentials for both 2- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 Apr 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1092.IS S1092 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 1092 IS year and 4-year institutions of higher education in 1 the State; 2 ‘‘(4) establishing outreach programs to provide 3 elementary school and secondary school students, es- 4 pecially those students in middle grades, and their 5 parents, educators, school counselors, and principals 6 information about and academic preparation for a 7 dual or concurrent enrollment program or an early 8 college high school program; 9 ‘‘(5) helping students meet eligibility criteria 10 for postsecondary courses and ensuring that stu- 11 dents understand how credits earned will transfer to 12 institutions of higher education in the State; or 13 ‘‘(6) coordinating high school transition and 14 postsecondary support services and academic cal- 15 endars. 16 ‘‘(g) FLEXIBILITY OF FUNDS.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 18 an eligible institution that receives a grant under 19 this section may use grant funds for any of the costs 20 associated with carrying out a dual or concurrent 21 enrollment program or an early college high school 22 program, including the costs of— 23 ‘‘(A) tuition and fees, books, and required 24 instructional materials for the program so that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 Apr 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1092.IS S1092 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 1092 IS students will not be required to pay tuition or 1 fees for postsecondary courses; and 2 ‘‘(B) transportation to and from the pro- 3 gram. 4 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—An eligible institution may 5 use not more than 20 percent of grant funds re- 6 ceived under this section for transportation costs de- 7 scribed in paragraph (1)(B). 8 ‘‘(h) EVALUATION AND REPORT.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible institution re- 10 ceiving a grant under this section shall— 11 ‘‘(A) conduct an independent evaluation of 12 the effectiveness of the activities carried out by 13 such eligible institution under this section; and 14 ‘‘(B) prepare and submit to the Secretary 15 a report containing the results of the evaluation 16 described in subparagraph (A). 17 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary may es- 18 tablish requirements for program evaluations.’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:59 Apr 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1092.IS S1092 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB

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