II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 883 

To modify the Federal TRIO programs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 22, 2021 

Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. TESTER, Mrs. CAPITO, and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To modify the Federal TRIO 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 ‘‘Educational Oppor5 tunity and Success Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROGRAM AUTHORITY AND AUTHORIZATION OF AP7 PROPRIATIONS FOR FEDERAL TRIO PRO8 GRAMS. 

9 (a) MINIMUM GRANTS.—Section 402A(b)(3) of the 

10 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a– 

11 11(b)(3)) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘$200,000’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘$220,000’’; and 

3 (2) by striking ‘‘$170,000’’ and inserting 

4 ‘‘$190,000’’. 

5 (b) PROCEDURES FOR AWARDING GRANTS AND CON6 TRACTS.—Section 402A(c) of the Higher Education Act 

7 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(c)) is amended— 

8 (1) in paragraph (2)(A)— 

9 (A) in the subparagraph heading, by strik10 ing ‘‘PRIOR EXPERIENCE’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘PRIOR SUCCESS’’; 

12 (B) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘prior 

13 experience of high quality service delivery’’ and 

14 inserting ‘‘prior success in achieving high qual15 ity service delivery’’; and 

16 (C) in the second sentence— 

17 (i) by striking ‘‘prior experience shall 

18 not’’ and inserting ‘‘prior success in 

19 achieving high quality service delivery shall 

20 not’’; and 

21 (ii) by striking ‘‘shall not be given 

22 prior experience consideration’’ and insert23 ing ‘‘shall not be given such consider24 ation’’; and 


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1 (2) by striking paragraph (8) and inserting the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(8) REVIEW AND NOTIFICATION BY THE SEC4 RETARY.— 

5 ‘‘(A) GUIDANCE.—Not less than 90 days 

6 before the commencement of each competition 

7 for a grant under this chapter, the Secretary 

8 shall issue nonregulatory guidance regarding 

9 the rights and responsibilities of applicants with 

10 respect to the application and evaluation proc11 ess for programs and projects assisted under 

12 this chapter, including applicant access to peer 

13 review comments. The guidance shall describe 

14 the procedures for the submission, processing, 

15 and scoring of applications for grants under 

16 this chapter, including the information de17 scribed in subparagraph (B). 

18 ‘‘(B) TECHNICAL COMPONENTS OF APPLI19 CATIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(i) ESTABLISHMENT AND TREAT21 MENT OF NONSUBSTANTIVE TECHNICAL

22 COMPONENTS OF APPLICATIONS.—With re23 spect to any competition for a grant under 

24 this chapter, the Secretary may only estab25 lish voluntary page limit and formatting 


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1 requirements for grant applications and 

2 may not reject grant applications that do 

3 not meet those voluntary requirements. 

4 The Secretary may suggest page limits and 

5 formatting standards, (including with re6 spect to font size, font style, font type, line 

7 spacing, paragraph justification, and page 

8 margins), but may not use noncompliance 

9 with these suggested requirements as a 

10 basis to reject or penalize grant applica11 tions. 

12 ‘‘(ii) IDENTIFICATION AND TREAT13 MENT OF TECHNICAL BUDGET ERRORS IN

14 APPLICATIONS.— 

15 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—With respect 

16 to any competition for a grant under 

17 this chapter, the Secretary may not 

18 reject or penalize grant applications 

19 on the basis of a typographical or 

20 rounding error in a proposed budget 

21 until the Secretary has given the ap22 plicant an opportunity for correction 

23 in accordance with subclause (II). 

24 ‘‘(II) NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY

25 FOR CORRECTION.—The Secretary 


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1 shall provide notice and identification 

2 of an error described in subclause (I) 

3 by email and phone to the applicant 

4 before awarding grants for each com5 petition. During a period of not fewer 

6 than 14 days, the Secretary shall 

7 allow the applicant to submit a re8 vised application that corrects the 

9 identified error. 

10 ‘‘(III) TREATMENT OF REVISED

11 APPLICATIONS.—The Secretary shall 

12 treat the revised application in the 

13 same manner as a timely submitted 

14 application. 

15 ‘‘(IV) FAILURE TO CORRECT.—If 

16 an applicant has received a notice and 

17 opportunity for correction of a typo18 graphical or rounding error in a pro19 posed budget in accordance with sub20 clause (II) and the applicant fails to 

21 correct the error and submit a revised 

22 application before the deadline de23 scribed in that subclause, the Sec24 retary may reject or penalize that 

25 grant application. 


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1 ‘‘(C) REVIEW.— 

2 ‘‘(i) REQUEST FOR REVIEW.—With 

3 respect to any competition for a grant 

4 under this chapter, an applicant may re5 quest a review if the applicant— 

6 ‘‘(I) has evidence that a specific 

7 technical, administrative, or scoring 

8 error was made by the Department, 

9 an agent of the Department, or a peer 

10 reviewer, with respect to the scoring 

11 or processing of a submitted applica12 tion; and 

13 ‘‘(II) has otherwise met all of the 

14 requirements for submission of the 

15 application. 

16 ‘‘(ii) ERROR MADE BY THE DEPART17 MENT.—In the case of evidence of error by 

18 the Department or an agent of the Depart19 ment, other than a peer reviewer, the Sec20 retary shall review any evidence submitted 

21 by the applicant and provide a timely re22 sponse to the applicant. If the Secretary 

23 determines that an error was made by the 

24 Department or an agent of the Depart25 ment, other than a peer reviewer, the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:52 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S883.IS S883

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1 retary shall correct the error and accord2 ingly adjust the applicant score. 

3 ‘‘(iii) ERROR MADE BY A PEER RE4 VIEWER.— 

5 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—In the case 

6 of evidence of error by a peer re7 viewer, a secondary review panel shall 

8 automatically and promptly evaluate 

9 the application for consideration in 

10 the applicable grant competition upon 

11 receipt of a request by any such appli12 cant. Examples of errors warranting 

13 secondary review may include— 

14 ‘‘(aa) points withheld for 

15 criteria not required in statute, 

16 regulation, or guidance governing 

17 a program under this chapter or 

18 the application for a grant for 

19 such program; or 

20 ‘‘(bb) information pertaining 

21 to selection criteria that was in22 correctly determined to be miss23 ing from an application. 

24 ‘‘(II) TIMELY REVIEW AND RE25 PLACEMENT SCORE.—The secondary 


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1 review panel described in subclause (I) 

2 shall conduct a secondary review in a 

3 timely fashion, and the score resulting 

4 from the secondary review shall re5 place the score from the initial peer 

6 review. 

7 ‘‘(III) COMPOSITION OF SEC8 ONDARY REVIEW PANEL.—The sec9 ondary review panel shall be composed 

10 of reviewers each of whom— 

11 ‘‘(aa) did not review the ap12 plication in the original peer re13 view; 

14 ‘‘(bb) is a member of the co15 hort of peer reviewers for the 

16 grant program that is the subject 

17 of such secondary review; and 

18 ‘‘(cc) to the extent prac19 ticable, has conducted peer re20 views in not less than 2 previous 

21 competitions for the grant pro22 gram that is the subject of such 

23 secondary review. 

24 ‘‘(IV) FINAL SCORE.—The final 

25 peer review score of an application 


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1 subject to a secondary review under 

2 this clause shall promptly be adjusted 

3 appropriately using the score awarded 

4 by the secondary review panel, so as 

5 not to interfere with the timely award6 ing of grants for the applicable grant 

7 competition. 

8 ‘‘(iv) FINALITY.— 

9 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A determina10 tion by the Secretary under clause (ii) 

11 shall not be reviewable by any officer 

12 or employee of the Department other 

13 than the Secretary. 

14 ‘‘(II) SCORING.—The score 

15 awarded by a secondary review panel 

16 under clause (iii) shall not be review17 able by any officer or employee of the 

18 Department other than the Secretary. 

19 ‘‘(v) FUNDING OF APPLICATIONS

20 WITH CERTAIN ADJUSTED SCORES.—Appli21 cations with scores that are adjusted up22 ward under clause (ii) or (iii) that equal or 

23 exceed the minimum cut-off score for the 

24 applicable grant competition shall be fund25 ed by the Secretary using general or adVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:52 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S883.IS S883

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1 ministrative funds available to the Sec2 retary other than those funds appropriated 

3 or allocated for the programs authorized 

4 by this chapter.’’. 

5 (c) OUTREACH.—Section 402A(d)(3) of the Higher 

6 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(d)(3)) is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘The Sec8 retary shall also host at least one virtual, interactive train9 ing using telecommunications technology to ensure that 

10 interested applicants have access to technical assistance.’’. 

11 (d) DOCUMENTATION OF STATUS AS A LOW-INCOME

12 INDIVIDUAL.—Section 402A(e) of the Higher Education 

13 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(e)) is amended— 

14 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

15 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’ 

16 after the semicolon; 

17 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 

18 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

19 and 

20 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(E) documentation that the student has 

22 been determined to be eligible for a Federal Pell 

23 Grant under section 401; or 

24 ‘‘(F) for grants authorized under section 

25 402B and 402F of this chapter, documentation 


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1 that a student is attending a school that had a 

2 percentage of enrolled students who are identi3 fied students (as defined in section 

4 11(a)(1)(F)(i) of the Richard B. Russell Na5 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 1759a(a)(1)(F)(i))) that meets or exceeds the 

7 threshold described in section 11(a)(1)(F)(viii) 

8 of that Act during the school year prior to the 

9 first year of the period for which such grant is 

10 awarded.’’; and 

11 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

12 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’ 

13 after the semicolon; 

14 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 

15 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

16 and 

17 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(E) documentation that the student has 

19 been determined to be eligible for a Federal Pell 

20 Grant under section 401; or 

21 ‘‘(F) for grants authorized under section 

22 402B and 402F of this chapter, documentation 

23 that a student is attending a school that had a 

24 percentage of enrolled students who are identi25 fied students (as defined in section 


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1 11(a)(1)(F)(i) of the Richard B. Russell Na2 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 1759a(a)(1)(F)(i))) that meets or exceeds the 

4 threshold described in section 11(a)(1)(F)(viii) 

5 of that Act during the school year prior to the 

6 first year of the period for which such grant is 

7 awarded.’’. 

8 (e) OUTCOME CRITERIA.—Section 402A(f) of the 

9 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(g)) 

10 is amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

12 (A) in the paragraph heading, by striking 

13 ‘‘PRIOR EXPERIENCE’’ and inserting ‘‘PRIOR

14 SUCCESS’’; 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘January 1, 2009’’ and in16 serting ‘‘the date of enactment of the Edu17 cational Opportunity and Success Act of 2021’’; 

18 and 

19 (C) by striking ‘‘prior experience of’’ and 

20 inserting ‘‘prior success in achieving’’; and 

21 (2) in paragraph (3)— 

22 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

23 (i) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘that will 

24 make such students eligible for programs 

25 such as the Academic Competitiveness 


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1 Grants Program’’ and inserting ‘‘that in2 cludes at least 4 years of mathematics, 3 

3 years of science, and 2 years of a foreign 

4 language’’; 

5 (ii) by redesignating clauses (v) and 

6 (vi) as clauses (vi) and (vii), respectively; 

7 and 

8 (iii) inserting after clause (iv), the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(v) the completion of financial aid 

11 applications, including the Free Applica12 tion for Federal Student Aid described in 

13 section 483(a) and college admissions ap14 plications’’; 

15 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 

16 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

17 by inserting ‘‘except in the case of pro18 grams that are specifically designed for 

19 veterans,’’ after ‘‘402C’’; 

20 (ii) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘that will 

21 make such students eligible for programs 

22 such as the Academic Competitiveness 

23 Grants Program’’ and inserting ‘‘that in24 cludes at least 4 years of mathematics, 3 


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1 years of science, and 2 years of a foreign 

2 language’’; 

3 (iii) by redesignating clauses (vi) and 

4 (vii) as clauses (vii) and (viii), respectively; 

5 and 

6 (iv) inserting after clause (v), the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(vi) the completion of financial aid 

9 applications, including the Free Applica10 tion for Federal Student Aid described in 

11 section 483(a) and college admissions ap12 plications;’’; 

13 (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) 

14 through (E) as subparagraphs (D) through (F), 

15 respectively; 

16 (D) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘(C) For programs authorized under sec19 tion 402C that are specifically designed for vet20 erans, the extent to which the eligible entity 

21 met or exceeded the entity’s objectives for such 

22 program regarding— 

23 ‘‘(i) the delivery of service to a total 

24 number of students served by the program, 


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1 as agreed upon by the entity and the Sec2 retary for the period of the program; 

3 ‘‘(ii) such students’ academic perform4 ance as measured by standardized tests; 

5 ‘‘(iii) the retention and completion of 

6 participants in the program; 

7 ‘‘(iv) the provision of assistance to 

8 students served by the program in com9 pleting financial aid applications, including 

10 the Free Application for Federal Student 

11 Aid described in section 483(a) and college 

12 admission applications; 

13 ‘‘(v) the enrollment of such students 

14 in an institution of higher education; and 

15 ‘‘(vi) to the extent practicable, the 

16 postsecondary completion of such stu17 dents;’’; 

18 (E) in subparagraph (D), as redesignated 

19 by subparagraph (C), by striking clause (ii) and 

20 inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(ii)(I) in the case of an entity that is 

22 an institution of higher education offering 

23 a baccalaureate degree, the extent to which 

24 the entity met or exceeded the entity’s ob25 jectives regarding the percentage of such 


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1 students’ completion of a baccalaureate de2 gree at any baccalaureate granting institu3 tion within 6 years of initial enrollment in 

4 the project; or 

5 ‘‘(II) in the case of an entity that is 

6 an institution of higher education that does 

7 not offer a baccalaureate degree, the extent 

8 to which such students met or exceeded— 

9 ‘‘(aa) the entity’s objective re10 garding the transfer of such students 

11 to institutions of higher education 

12 that offer baccalaureate degrees, re13 gardless of whether the transferring 

14 student completes a degree or certifi15 cate; and 

16 ‘‘(bb) the entity’s objective re17 garding the completion of a degree or 

18 certificate by such students at the in19 stitution or any accredited institution 

20 within 4 years of initial enrollment in 

21 the project;’’; 

22 (F) by amending subparagraph (E), as re23 designated by subparagraph (C), to read as fol24 lows: 


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1 ‘‘(E) For programs authorized under sec2 tion 402E, the extent to which the entity met 

3 or exceeded— 

4 ‘‘(i) the entity’s objective regarding 

5 the delivery of service to a total number of 

6 students served by the program, as agreed 

7 upon by the entity and the Secretary for 

8 the period; 

9 ‘‘(ii) the entity’s objective regarding 

10 the provision of appropriate scholarly and 

11 research activities for the students served 

12 by the program; 

13 ‘‘(iii) the entity’s objective regarding 

14 the acceptance and enrollment of such stu15 dents in graduate programs within 2 years 

16 of receiving the baccalaureate degree; 

17 ‘‘(iv) the entity’s objective regarding 

18 the continued enrollment of such students 

19 in graduate study; and 

20 ‘‘(v) the entity’s objective regarding 

21 the attainment of doctoral degrees by 

22 former program participants within 10 

23 years of receiving the baccalaureate de24 gree.’’; and 


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1 (G) in subparagraph (F), as redesignated 

2 by subparagraph (C)— 

3 (i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘within 

4 2 years of participation in the program’’ 

5 after ‘‘such diploma or equivalent’’; and 

6 (ii) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘or re7 enrollment’’ after ‘‘the enrollment’’. 

8 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

9 402A(g) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

10 1070a–11(g)) is amended to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

12 purpose of making grants and contracts under this chap13 ter, there are authorized to be appropriated 

14 $1,100,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 and such sums as 

15 may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal 

16 years. Of the amount appropriated under this chapter, the 

17 Secretary may use no more than 1 percent of such amount 

18 to obtain additional qualified readers and additional staff 

19 to review applications, to increase the level of oversight 

20 monitoring, to support impact studies, program assess21 ments, and reviews, and to provide technical assistance to 

22 potential applicants and current grantees.’’. 

23 (g) DEFINITIONS.—Section 402A(h) of the Higher 

24 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–11(h)) is 


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1 amended by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(4) LOW-INCOME INDIVIDUAL.—The term 

4 ‘low-income individual’ means— 

5 ‘‘(A) an individual from a family whose ad6 justable gross income for the preceding year did 

7 not exceed 150 percent of an amount equal to 

8 the poverty level determined by using criteria of 

9 poverty established by the Bureau of the Cen10 sus; 

11 ‘‘(B) an individual from a family whose ad12 justable gross income, as reported on the indi13 vidual’s most recently completed Free Applica14 tion for Federal Student Aid, did not exceed 

15 150 percent of an amount equal to the poverty 

16 level determined by using criteria of poverty es17 tablished by the Bureau of the Census for that 

18 year; 

19 ‘‘(C) an individual who has been deter20 mined to be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant 

21 under section 401; or 

22 ‘‘(D) for grants authorized under section 

23 402B and 402F of this chapter, a student who 

24 is attending a school that had a percentage of 

25 enrolled students who are identified students 


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1 (as defined in section 11(a)(1)(F)(i) of the 

2 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 

3 (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F)(i))) that meets or 

4 exceeds the threshold described in section 

5 11(a)(1)(F)(viii) of that Act during the school 

6 year prior to the first year of the period for 

7 which such grant is awarded.’’. 

8 SEC. 3. UPWARD BOUND. 

9 Section 402C(f) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

10 (20 U.S.C. 1070a–13(f)) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘$60’’ and inserting ‘‘$90’’; 

12 (2) by striking ‘‘$300’’ and inserting ‘‘$450’’; 

13 (3) by striking ‘‘$40’’ and inserting ‘‘$60’’; and 

14 (4) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Adults 

15 participating in a project that is specifically designed 

16 for veterans under this section may be paid stipends 

17 not in excess of $100 per month during the year.’’ 

18 SEC. 4. POSTBACCALAUREATE ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM 

19 AUTHORITY. 

20 Section 402E of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

21 (20 USC 1070a–15) is amended— 

22 (1) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ‘‘summer 

23 internships’’ and inserting ‘‘internships or faculty24 led research experiences’’; 


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1 (2) in subsection (d)(4), by striking ‘‘summer 

2 research internships’’ and inserting ‘‘research intern3 ships or faculty-led research experiences’’; and 

4 (3) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ‘‘$2,800’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘$4,000’’. 

Æ 


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