II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2620 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make college affordable 

and accessible by expanding access to dual or concurrent enrollment 

programs and early college high school programs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 5, 2021 

Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. KAINE, and Mr. BOOZMAN) 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 make college 

affordable and accessible by expanding access to dual 

or concurrent enrollment programs and early college high 

school programs. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Making Education Af5 fordable and Accessible Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DUAL OR CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT PROGRAMS 

2 AND EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL. 

3 Part B of title VII of the Higher Education Act of 

4 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1138 et seq.) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating section 745 as section 746; 

6 (2) in section 746, as redesignated by para7 graph (1), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 2009’’ and insert8 ing ‘‘fiscal year 2022’’; and 

9 (3) by inserting after section 744 the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 745. DUAL OR CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT PRO11 GRAMS AND EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL. 

12 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to ex13 pand access for high school students to the opportunities 

14 offered in dual or concurrent enrollment programs and 

15 early college high school programs established through 

16 partnerships between local educational agencies and insti17 tutions of higher education that enable such students to 

18 earn postsecondary credits while enrolled in a public high 

19 school. 

20 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

21 ‘‘(1) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘dual or 

22 concurrent enrollment program’, ‘early college high 

23 school’, and ‘high school’ have the same meaning 

24 given to those terms in section 8101 of the Elemen25 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. 


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1 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘eligi2 ble institution’ means an institution of higher edu3 cation that carries out or plans to carry out a dual 

4 or concurrent enrollment program or an early college 

5 high school program. 

6 ‘‘(c) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 

7 award grants to eligible institutions to carry out dual or 

8 concurrent enrollment programs or early college high 

9 school programs. 

10 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—An eligible institution that de11 sires to receive a grant under this section shall submit to 

12 the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 

13 and containing such information as the Secretary may re14 quire. Such application shall include a description of— 

15 ‘‘(1) the partnership between the eligible insti16 tution and each local educational agency involved in 

17 carrying out the dual or concurrent enrollment pro18 gram or early college high school program; and 

19 ‘‘(2) how the eligible institution will expand stu20 dent access to a dual or concurrent enrollment pro21 gram or an early college high school program, espe22 cially for students described in subsection (e). 

23 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec24 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible institu25 tions that will use grant funds for dual or concurrent enVerDate Sep 11 2014 15:55 Aug 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2620.IS S2620

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1 rollment programs or early college high school programs 

2 that serve students from low-income families, students 

3 from rural communities, or first-generation college stu4 dents (as defined in section 402A(h)). 

5 ‘‘(f) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible institution that re6 ceives a grant under this section shall use the grant funds 

7 to carry out a dual or concurrent enrollment program or 

8 an early college high school program for students enrolled 

9 in a public high school, which may include activities such 

10 as— 

11 ‘‘(1) providing educators, principals, and other 

12 school leaders with professional development activi13 ties that enhance or enable the provision of postsec14 ondary coursework through a dual or concurrent en15 rollment program or an early college high school 

16 program; 

17 ‘‘(2) designing the curriculum and sequence of 

18 courses for a dual or concurrent enrollment program 

19 or an early college high school program in collabora20 tion with educators from the local educational agen21 cy and faculty from the eligible institution; 

22 ‘‘(3) establishing a course articulation process 

23 for defining and approving courses for high school 

24 and postsecondary credit or credentials for both 2- 


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1 year and 4-year institutions of higher education in 

2 the State; 

3 ‘‘(4) establishing outreach programs to provide 

4 elementary school and secondary school students, es5 pecially those students in middle grades, and their 

6 parents, educators, school counselors, and principals 

7 information about and academic preparation for a 

8 dual or concurrent enrollment program or an early 

9 college high school program; 

10 ‘‘(5) helping students meet eligibility criteria 

11 for postsecondary courses and ensuring that stu12 dents understand how credits earned will transfer to 

13 institutions of higher education in the State; or 

14 ‘‘(6) coordinating high school transition and 

15 postsecondary support services and academic cal16 endars. 

17 ‘‘(g) FLEXIBILITY OF FUNDS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

19 an eligible institution that receives a grant under 

20 this section may use grant funds for any of the costs 

21 associated with carrying out a dual or concurrent 

22 enrollment program or an early college high school 

23 program, including the costs of— 

24 ‘‘(A) tuition and fees, books, and required 

25 instructional materials for the program so that 


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1 students will not be required to pay tuition or 

2 fees for postsecondary courses; and 

3 ‘‘(B) transportation to and from the pro4 gram. 

5 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—An eligible institution may 

6 use not more than 20 percent of grant funds re7 ceived under this section for transportation costs de8 scribed in paragraph (1)(B). 

9 ‘‘(h) EVALUATION AND REPORT.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible institution re11 ceiving a grant under this section shall— 

12 ‘‘(A) conduct an independent evaluation of 

13 the effectiveness of the activities carried out by 

14 such eligible institution under this section; and 

15 ‘‘(B) prepare and submit to the Secretary 

16 a report containing the results of the evaluation 

17 described in subparagraph (A). 

18 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary may es19 tablish requirements for program evaluations.’’. 

Æ 


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