§2352 Distribution of Funds for Postsecondary Education Programs

Summary

Eligible agencies must give the yearly block of federal money to eligible colleges or groups of colleges in their State. Each college or group gets a share based on how many students it had last year who received Federal Pell Grants or aid from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and who were in the qualifying programs. Colleges that join as a consortium must run joint projects that serve all members and be big and strong enough to work. Consortium money must pay for programs that help every member and are allowed under the federal program; it cannot be handed to just one member for that member’s own use. An agency can drop the “serve all members” rule for a college in a rural, sparsely populated area. The Secretary can allow a State to use a different formula if the State shows the normal formula does not send funds to the institutions with the most economically disadvantaged students and proposes a fairer formula. No college or consortium can get less than $50,000; any money left unused because of that rule must be redistributed under these rules.