College for All Act of 2025
College for All Act of 2025
Plain Language Summary
# College for All Act of 2025: Summary **What the Bill Would Do** The College for All Act of 2025 aims to make college more affordable by eliminating tuition and required fees for eligible students. It would establish a federal-state partnership to cover costs at community colleges and two-year institutions for all students, and at four-year public universities for working- and middle-class students. The bill would also expand the Federal Pell Grant program (which provides grants to low-income students) and extend support to private nonprofit historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions. **Who It Affects** The bill would primarily benefit community college students, two-year tribal college students, and working- to middle-class students attending four-year public universities. Lower-income students at minority-serving institutions would also be eligible for support.
The bill requires state participation through a partnership model, so implementation would vary by state. **Current Status** As of now, the bill (HR 3543) is in committee and has not yet been voted on by the full House. It was sponsored by Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) in the 119th Congress. The bill would require Congressional approval and significant federal funding before it could become law.
CRS Official Summary
College for All Act of 2025This bill establishes measures to expand access to higher education, including by eliminating tuition and required fees for eligible students, revising the Federal Pell Grant program, and reauthorizing certain programs to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds.Specifically, the bill provides funding to enable states and tribal colleges and universities, through a federal-state partnership, to eliminate tuition and required fees for (1) all students at community colleges and two-year tribal colleges and universities, and (2) working- and middle-class students at four-year public institutions of higher education and tribal colleges and universities.The bill provides funding to enable private, nonprofit historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions to eliminate tuition and required fees for eligible students.The bill permanently reauthorizes and otherwise revises the Federal Pell Grant program byproviding funding to increase the maximum award for each eligible student,increasing the duration limit for the use of Pell Grants,allowing students to use their awards to cover living and nontuition expenses, andexpanding eligibility to Dreamer students (i.e., students who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status and who entered the United States before the age of 16) and students with other immigration statuses.Further, the bill requires the Department of Education to award grants to eligible states and tribal colleges and universities for improving student outcomes.The bill reauthorizes through FY2035 the Federal TRIO Programs and reauthorizes through FY2029 the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.
Latest Action
Referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.