I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1485 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide students with 
increased flexibility in the use of Federal Pell Grants, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 9, 2017 
Ms. STEFANIK (for herself, Mr. CURBELO of Florida, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. 
PETERS, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. KING 
of New York, Mr. HURD, Mr. KILMER, Mr. MESSER, Mr. MOOLENAAR, 
Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. WELCH, Mr. FASO, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. 
BONAMICI, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. BYRNE, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. 
MACARTHUR, Mr. PAULSEN, Mr. COLLINS of New York, Mr. YOUNG of 
Iowa, and Mr. POLIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide 
students with increased flexibility in the use of Federal 
Pell Grants, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Flexible Pell Grant 
for 21st Century Students Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FLEXIBLE PELL GRANTS. 
(a) PURPOSE AND AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—Section 
401(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1070a(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(8)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
subsection, an eligible student who has received a Federal 
Pell Grant during an award year, and is enrolled in an 
eligible program for one or more additional payment peri-
ods during the same award year, may receive an additional 
Federal Pell Grant for such additional period or periods. 
‘‘(B) In the case of a student receiving more than 
one Federal Pell Grant during a single award year under 
subparagraph (A), the total amount of the Federal Pell 
Grants awarded to such student for the award year shall 
not exceed an amount equal to 150 percent of the amount 
of the Federal Pell Grant award determined under para-
graph (2)(A) for which such student is eligible during such 
award year. 
‘‘(C) At or before the time of disbursement of a Fed-
eral Pell Grant under subparagraph (A) to a student, the 
institution in which the student is enrolled shall notify the 
student that any payment period for which the student 
receives a Federal Pell Grant shall count toward the stu-
dent’s duration limits under subsection (c)(5). 
‘‘(D) In this paragraph, the term ‘eligible student’ 
means a student who— 
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‘‘(i) continues to meet all eligibility require-
ments to receive a Federal Pell Grant under this 
section; and 
‘‘(ii) is accelerating progress toward a degree or 
certificate. 
‘‘(E)(i) In this paragraph, except as provided in 
clause (ii), a student shall be considered accelerating 
progress toward a degree or certificate during an award 
year if, during such award year— 
‘‘(I) the student completes the credit hours (or 
credit hour equivalencies) of an academic year of the 
student’s eligible program that are necessary for the 
student to enroll, during such award year, in credit 
hours (or credit hour equivalencies) that are attrib-
utable to a second academic year for such program; 
and 
‘‘(II) during the payment period or periods for 
which the student desires to receive a Federal Pell 
Grant under subparagraph (A), the student enrolls 
in credit hours (or credit hour equivalencies) that 
are attributable to a second academic year for the 
student’s eligible program. 
‘‘(ii) The financial aid administrator at an institution 
may waive the requirement of subparagraph (D)(ii), if the 
financial aid administrator— 
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‘‘(I) determines that, due to circumstances be-
yond a student’s control, the student was unable to 
complete the credit hours described in clause (i)(I) 
of this subparagraph; and 
‘‘(II) makes and documents such a determina-
tion on an individual basis. 
‘‘(iii) In this subparagraph— 
‘‘(I) circumstances beyond a student’s control— 
‘‘(aa) may include the student withdrawing 
from classes due to illness or being unable to 
register for classes necessary to complete the 
credit hours described in clause (i)(I) because 
such classes were not offered during the appli-
cable period; and 
‘‘(bb) shall not include withdrawing to 
avoid a particular grade or failing to register 
for a necessary class that was offered during 
such period to avoid a particular instructor; and 
‘‘(II) the term ‘academic year’, when used with 
respect to an eligible program at an institution, has 
the meaning given such term by the institution. 
‘‘(9) If a student is receiving a Federal Pell Grant 
for a payment period that spans 2 award years, the eligible 
institution in which the student is enrolled shall determine 
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the award year to which the additional period shall be as-
signed. 
‘‘(10) A student may decline to receive any portion 
of a Federal Pell Grant for any payment period, except 
that the institution may establish a reasonable deadline 
by which the student may decline the Federal Pell 
Grant.’’. 
(b) PERIOD OF ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS.—Section 
401(c) of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1070a(c)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(6)(A) The Secretary shall issue to each student re-
ceiving a Federal Pell Grant, an annual status report 
which shall— 
‘‘(i) inform the student of the remaining period 
during which the student may receive Federal Pell 
Grants in accordance with paragraph (5), and pro-
vide access to a calculator to assist the student in 
making such determination; 
‘‘(ii) include an estimate of the Federal Pell 
Grant amounts which may be awarded for such re-
maining period based on the student’s award 
amount determined under paragraph (2)(A) for the 
most recent award year; 
‘‘(iii) explain how the estimate was calculated 
and any assumptions underlying the estimate; 
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