[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5162 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5162
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to support college students
to meet satisfactory academic progress.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 24, 2024
Mr. Booker introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to support college students
to meet satisfactory academic progress.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Satisfactory Academic Progress Reset
and Reform Act''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are the following:
(1) To support college students to meet satisfactory
academic progress requirements under the Higher Education Act
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), allowing them to continue
receiving Federal student aid and persist in college.
(2) To empower students who had lost access to Federal
student aid due to previously failing to meet satisfactory
academic progress requirements under the Higher Education Act
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) to become eligible again for
Federal student aid after 2 years away from college.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Satisfactory academic progress (SAP) requirements for
Federal student aid programs have become increasingly strict
and inflexible for students over the last 40 years.
(2) The increase in SAP requirements has made the need-
based Federal Pell Grant resemble a performance-based
scholarship, despite the disproportionately negative impact on
students and families who are low-income.
(3) Approximately 40 percent of first-year Federal Pell
Grant recipients risk losing Federal student aid due to not
meeting the credit completion component of SAP requirements.
(4) Institutions are responsible for setting SAP
requirements; however, Federal statute establishes guidance for
minimum grade point average (GPA) and credit completion
standards.
(5) Many institutions conduct an SAP status check every
payment period, allowing students at risk of not meeting the
SAP standards to benefit from a one-term ``warning status''
before losing Federal student aid or filing an appeal; however,
students at institutions that only evaluate SAP status once per
year are at risk of losing their Federal student aid
immediately upon learning of their status.
(6) While many students struggle to meet minimum academic
standards, current SAP policy targets students and families
with the lowest incomes--those earning less than $50,000 per
year. Federal student aid recipients with low GPAs leave
college more quickly than students with low GPAs that do not
rely on Federal student aid.
(7) Current SAP policy also disproportionately harms Black,
Latino, and Native American students. In 2015 through 2016, 57
percent of Black students, 47 percent of Latino students, and
51 percent of Native American students relied on Federal Pell
Grants to pay for college, while for that same year, 39 percent
of all undergraduate students received a Federal Pell Grant.
(8) SAP requirements apply to all Federal student aid under
title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et
seq.), including Federal Pell Grants, Federal Direct Loans, and
Federal Work-Study. State and institutional need-based programs
also often base their own requirements on the Federal SAP
rules.
SEC. 4. SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS RESET.
Section 484(c) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1091(c)) is amended to read as follows:
``(c) Satisfactory Progress.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this section:
``(A) Appeal.--The term `appeal' means a process by
which a student who is not meeting the institution's
satisfactory academic progress standards petitions the
institution for reconsideration of the student's
eligibility for assistance under this title.
``(B) Financial aid probation.--The term `financial
aid probation' means a status assigned by an
institution to a student who fails to make satisfactory
academic progress and who has appealed and has had
eligibility for aid reinstated.
``(C) Financial aid warning.--The term `financial
aid warning' means a status assigned to a student who
fails to make satisfactory academic progress at the end
of a semester or equivalent period.
``(2) Satisfactory academic progress policy.--An
institution shall establish a reasonable satisfactory academic
progress policy for determining whether an otherwise eligible
student is making satisfactory academic progress in the
student's educational program and may receive assistance under
this title. The Secretary shall consider the institution's
policy to be reasonable if--
``(A) the policy is at least as strict as the
policy the institution applies to a student who is not
receiving assistance under this title;
``(B) the policy provides for consistent
application of standards to all students within the
category of students, including full-time, part-time,
undergraduate, and graduate students, and educational
programs established by the institution;
``(C)(i) the policy specifies the grade point
average (GPA) that a student must achieve at each
evaluation, or if a GPA is not an appropriate
qualitative measure, a comparable assessment measured
against a norm; and
``(ii) if a student is enrolled in an educational
program of more than 2 academic years, the policy
specifies that at the end of the second academic year,
the student must have a GPA of at least a `C' or its
equivalent, or have academic standing consistent with
the institution's requirements for graduation;
``(D) the policy provides for measurement of the
student's progress at each evaluation;
``(E) the policy describes--
``(i) how a student's GPA and progress
toward completion are affected by course
incompletes, withdrawals, or repetitions, or
transfers of credit from other institutions,
including that credit hours from another
institution that are accepted toward the
student's educational program are counted as
both attempted and completed hours; and
``(ii) how after a student reenrolls after
the student's satisfactory academic progress
was reset pursuant to paragraph (3)(B), the
student may have any credits that were earned
before the student was determined not to be
making satisfactory academic progress counted
for purposes of determining progress when the
student reenrolls, but any attempted hours
(including incompletes, withdrawn courses, and
failed courses) the student may have
accumulated before the student was determined
not to be making satisfactory academic progress
would not negatively impact the determination
of the student's making satisfactory academic
progress after such reset;
``(F) the policy provides that, a student who has
not achieved the required GPA, or who is not making
progress toward completion in the student's educational
program, at the time of each evaluation with respect to
a student who is in an educational program of 2
academic years or less in length, or at the end of the
second academic year with respect to a student who is
in an educational program of more than 2 academic years
in length, is no longer eligible to receive assistance
under this title, except as provided in subparagraph
(G) with respect to a student placed on financial aid
warning or financial aid probation;
``(G) if the institution places students on
financial aid warning, or on financial aid probation,
the policy describes these statuses and that--
``(i) a student on financial aid warning--
``(I) may receive assistance under
this title for one payment period
despite a determination that the
student is not making satisfactory
academic progress; and
``(II) may be assigned such status
without an appeal or other action by
the student; and
``(ii) a student on financial aid probation
may receive assistance under this title for one
payment period and the institution may require
the student to fulfill specific terms and
conditions, such as taking a reduced course
load or enrolling in specific courses, and, at
the end of such one payment period, the student
must meet the institution's satisfactory
academic progress standards or meet the
requirements of the academic plan developed by
the institution and the student to qualify for
continued assistance under this title;
``(H) if the institution permits a student to
appeal a determination by the institution that the
student is not making satisfactory academic progress,
the policy describes--
``(i) how the student may reestablish the
student's eligibility to receive assistance
under this title;
``(ii) the basis on which the student may
file an appeal, including because of the death
of a relative, an injury or illness of the
student, or another special circumstances; and
``(iii) information the student must submit
regarding why the student failed to make
satisfactory academic progress, and what has
changed in the student's situation that will
allow the student to demonstrate satisfactory
academic progress at the next evaluation;
``(I) if the institution does not permit a student
to appeal a determination by the institution that the
student is not making satisfactory academic progress,
the policy describes how the student may reestablish
the student's eligibility to receive assistance under
this title;
``(J) the policy provides for notification to
students of the results of an evaluation that impacts
the student's eligibility for assistance under this
title; and
``(K) the policy does not impose satisfactory
progress limitations on institutional aid that are more
stringent than the standard applied under this
subsection without demonstrating to the Secretary the
effectiveness of such limitations on improving student
persistence in, and completion of, postsecondary study.
``(3) Regaining eligibility.--
``(A) Students who remain in school.--Whenever a
student fails to meet the eligibility requirements of
subsection (a)(2) as a result of the application of
this subsection and subsequent to that failure the
student has academic standing consistent with the
requirements for graduation, as determined by the
institution, for any grading period, the student may,
subject to this subsection, again be eligible under
subsection (a)(2) for a grant, loan, or work assistance
under this title.
``(B) Students who leave school.--If a student has
not been enrolled in any institution of higher
education for the immediately preceding 2 years, any
previous failure to meet the eligibility requirements
of subsection (a)(2) shall not be used in any
determination of eligibility of such student under such
subsection. Such student described in the preceding
sentence shall, after the date of enrollment subsequent
to such 2 year period, meet the requirements described
in paragraph (2).
``(C) Limitation.--A student shall be eligible for
a reset of eligibility pursuant to this paragraph not
more than 2 times. The Secretary shall--
``(i) send a notification to each student
who failed to meet the eligibility requirements
of subsection (a)(2) once such student regains
eligibility for a grant, loan, or work
assistance under this title pursuant to this
paragraph, including--
``(I) information that the student
may use grant, loan, or work assistance
under this title for enrollment at any
eligible institution, not just the
institution in which the student was
previously enrolled if the student is
described in subparagraph (B);
``(II) information on how many
semesters of eligibility for a grant,
loan, or work assistance under this
title to which the student still has
access; and
``(III) that the student should ask
any prospective eligible institution,
if the student is described in
subparagraph (B), how many of the
student's previously completed credits
the student would be able to transfer;
and
``(ii) submit an annual report to Congress
on the outcomes of students who have received a
reset of eligibility pursuant to subparagraph
(B), including--
``(I) the number of students who
reenroll in an eligible institution
after such reset, disaggregated by race
or ethnicity, sex, age, socioeconomic
status, and disability status;
``(II) the 250 eligible
institutions with the highest numbers
of enrolled students receiving grant,
loan, or work assistance under this
title after such a reset; and
``(III) the average completion rate
and time to completion for students who
reenroll in an eligible institution
after such reset, broken down by
institution.
``(4) Evaluation of academic progress.--
``(A) In general.--An institution that determines
that a student is not making progress under its policy
may disburse funds under this title to the student
subject to this paragraph.
``(B) Payment period following not making academic
progress.--For the payment period following the payment
period in which a student did not make satisfactory
academic progress, the institution may place the
student on financial aid warning and disburse funds
under this title to the student.
``(C) Payment period following financial aid
warning.--For the payment period following a payment
period during which a student was on financial aid
warning, the institution may place the student on
financial aid probation, and disburse funds under this
title to the student if--
``(i) the institution evaluates the
student's progress and determines that student
did not make satisfactory academic progress
during the payment period the student was on
financial aid warning;
``(ii) the student appeals the
determination; and
``(iii)(I) the institution determines that
the student should be able to meet the
institution's satisfactory academic progress
standards by the end of the subsequent payment
period; or
``(II) the institutio