PELL Act
Sponsored By: Senator Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN]
Introduced
Summary
This bill refocuses federal higher education and research funding toward a _Pell‑serving, race‑neutral funding model_. It bars consideration of race or ethnicity in awarding federal higher education and research grants and retools many programs to prioritize institutions that serve large numbers of Federal Pell Grant recipients.
Show full summary
- Students and families: Creates an additional Pell Grant funding mechanism starting award year 2028-2029 that ties supplemental funding to an appropriation divided by the number of Pell‑eligible students. The supplemental amount is inflation adjusted by the chained CPI and remains available for two years.
- Minority‑serving institutions, HBCUs, and TCUs: Repeals or reconstitutes multiple MSI authorities including Title V and HEA sections 317–320, replaces MSI labels with Pell‑serving criteria, and sets new annual caps for certain HBCU and TCU allocations at $85 million and $30 million.
- Research and agencies: Imposes race‑neutral award rules across R&D and innovation programs and the National Science Foundation. Agencies must not consider racial or ethnic composition but must give priority to applicants from institutions that serve substantial numbers of Pell Grant recipients.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Annual HBCU and TCU grants
This bill would set aside $85,000,000 each fiscal year for certain HBCU grants and $30,000,000 each fiscal year for other eligible institutions. Those amounts would be treated as the Part B appropriation for allotment rules. The $85 million must prioritize listed capacity-building activities and the $30 million is for purposes described in section 316. The bill would also lower a separate total in law from $255,000,000 to $115,000,000.
Extra Pell grants starting 2028
This bill would create an extra per-student Pell grant starting in award year 2028–2029. The extra amount each year would equal the annual appropriation divided by the Secretary's estimate of Pell-eligible students. The first-year appropriation would be set by OMB as the bill's estimated savings, and later years would be increased by the chained CPI‑U. Money appropriated for a year would remain available through the following fiscal year.
Research grants race-neutral and Pell-focused
This bill would repeal many minority-serving institution grant authorities, including HEA sections 317–320 and Title V, and others like Section 1419B and certain agricultural Hispanic‑serving grants. It would recast science and research programs to prioritize institutions that serve substantial numbers of Pell Grant recipients and replace some ‘minority’ program names with Pell-focused ‘opportunity’ programs. The bill would require NSF reserved funds to go to HBCUs, TCUs, and institutions serving Pell or low-income students, but would bar awards to institutions that use race- or ethnicity‑based quotas or hiring preferences. It would also bar federal awarding officials from considering an institution's racial or ethnic composition when making grants.
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Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN]
IN • R
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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