Official Summaries

Pell Grant Sustainability Act

This bill indexes the maximum award amount for Pell Grants to the rate of inflation. The bill also permanently reauthorizes the discretionary statutory authority for the Pell Grant program.

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1666 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1666

    To index the maximum value of Federal Pell Grants to inflation.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 27, 2025

Mr. Casten (for himself, Ms. Lee of Nevada, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Grijalva, 
 Mr. Lynch, Mr. McGarvey, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Titus, 
  Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Schrier, Mrs. Beatty, Ms. Barragan, Ms. 
 Tokuda, Mr. Bera, Ms. Adams, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. DeSaulnier, 
    Mr. Keating, Mr. Tran, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Peters, Ms. Pingree, Mr. 
 Whitesides, Mr. Thanedar, and Mr. Johnson of Georgia) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
                               Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To index the maximum value of Federal Pell Grants to inflation.

    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 ``Pell Grant Sustainability Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The purchasing power of the Federal Pell Grant has 
        declined rapidly since the 1970s. In academic year 1974-1975, 
        the total maximum Federal Pell Grant covered 80 percent of base 
        educational costs at public 4-year institutions of higher 
        education. By academic year 2022-2023, the maximum Federal Pell 
        Grant covered just 31 percent of those base costs.
            (2) The value of Federal Pell Grants must keep pace with 
        students' costs in order to fulfill their mission of enabling 
        lower-income students to attend college.

SEC. 3. INDEXING FEDERAL PELL GRANTS TO INFLATION.

    Section 401(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1070a(b)) is amended--
            (1) by amending paragraph (5) to read as follows:
            ``(5) Total maximum federal pell grant.--
                    ``(A) In general.--For award year 2024-2025 and 
                each subsequent award year, the total maximum Federal 
                Pell Grant award per student shall be equal to the sum 
                of--
                            ``(i)(I) for award year 2024-2025, $1,060; 
                        or
                            ``(II) for award year 2025-2026 and each 
                        subsequent award year, the amount determined 
                        under this clause for the preceding award year, 
                        increased by a percentage equal to the annual 
                        adjustment percentage for the award year for 
                        which the amount under this clause is being 
                        determined; and
                            ``(ii) the amount specified as the maximum 
                        Federal Pell Grant in the last enacted 
                        appropriation Act applicable to that award 
                        year.
                    ``(B) Rounding.--The total maximum Federal Pell 
                Grant for any award year shall be rounded to the 
                nearest $5.
                    ``(C) Annual adjustment percentage defined.--In 
                this paragraph, the term `annual adjustment 
                percentage', as applied to an award year, is equal to 
                the estimated percentage change in the Consumer Price 
                Index (as determined by the Secretary, using the 
                definition in section 478(f)) for the most recent 
                calendar year ending prior to the beginning of that 
                award year.'';
            (2) in paragraph (6)(A)(ii)--
                    (A) by striking ``each of the fiscal years'' and 
                inserting ``fiscal year''; and
                    (B) by striking ``through 2034'' and inserting 
                ``and each subsequent fiscal year''; and
            (3) in paragraph (8)(A), by striking ``through fiscal year 
        2034''.
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