I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2487
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish a scholarship
program to encourage and support students who have contributed sub-
stantial public services.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 12, 2001
Mr. GUTIERREZ 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 establish
a scholarship program to encourage and support students
who have contributed substantial public services.
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 ‘‘Youth Service Scholar-
ship Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) young people under 18 years of age are now
our most impoverished age group with 1 of every 5
living in poverty, a higher proportion than in 1968,
with the percentage for minority children being
about twice as high;
(2) more than 1 of 4 families is headed by a
single parent and the percentage of such families
headed by such single parents has risen steadily over
the past few decades, rising 13 percent since 1990;
(3) there is a need to engage youth as active
participants in decision-making that affects their
lives, including design, development, implementation,
and evaluation of youth development programs at
the Federal, State, and community levels;
(4) existing outcome driven youth development
strategies, pioneered by community-based organiza-
tions, hold real promise for promoting positive be-
haviors and preventing youth problems;
(5) formal evaluations of youth development
programs have documented significant reductions in
drug and alcohol use, school misbehavior, aggressive
behavior, violence, truancy, high-risk sexual behav-
ior, and smoking;
(6) compared to American youth generally,
youth participating in community-based organiza-
tions are more than 26 percent more likely to report
having received recognition for good grades than
American youth generally and nearly 20 percent
more likely to rate the likelihood of their going to
college as ‘‘very high’’; and
(7) the availability and use of Federal resources
can be an effective incentive to leverage broader
community support to enable local programs, activi-
ties and services to provide the full array of develop-
mental core resources, remove barriers to access,
promote program effectiveness, and facilitate coordi-
nation and collaboration within the community.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.
Subpart 2 of part A of title IV of the Higher Edu-
cation Act of 1965 is amended—
(1) by redesignating section 407E (20 U.S.C.
1070a-35) as section 406E; and
(2) by inserting after such section the following
new chapter:
‘‘Chapter 4—Public Service Incentives
‘‘SEC. 407A. PURPOSES.
‘‘The purposes of this chapter are to establish a
scholarship program to reward low-income and moderate-
income students who have, during high school, and who
continue, during college, to make significant public service
contributions to their communities.
‘‘SEC. 407B. SCHOLARSHIPS AUTHORIZED.
‘‘(a) QUALIFICATIONS
FOR
SCHOLARSHIPS.—The
Secretary is authorized to award scholarships to enable a
student to pay the cost of attendance at an institution of
higher education during the student’s first 4 academic
years of undergraduate education, if the student—
‘‘(1) in order to be eligible for the first year of
such scholarship, performed not less than 300 hours
of qualifying public service during each of 2 aca-
demic years of the student’s secondary school enroll-
ment;
‘‘(2) in order to be eligible for the second or
any subsequent year of such scholarship, performed
not less than 300 hours of qualifying public service
during the academic year of postsecondary school at-
tendance preceding the academic year for which the
student seeks such scholarship;
‘‘(3) was eligible for a free or reduced price
lunch under the Richard B. Russell National School
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1721 et seq.);
‘‘(4) is eligible to receive Federal Pell Grants
for the year in which the scholarships are awarded,
except that a student shall not be required to comply
or verify compliance with section 485(a)(5) for pur-
poses of receiving a scholarship under this chapter;
and
‘‘(5) otherwise demonstrates compliance with
regulations prescribed by the Secretary under sec-
tion 407F.
‘‘(b) DEFINITION
OF QUALIFYING PUBLIC SERV-
ICE.—For purposes of subsection (a), the term ‘qualifying
public service’ means service that would be eligible for
treatment as community service under the National and
Community Service Act of 1990 or under the Federal
work-study program under part C of title IV of the Higher
Education Act of 1965.
‘‘SEC. 407C. AMOUNT OF SCHOLARSHIP.
‘‘(a) AMOUNT OF AWARD.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2) and subsection (b), the amount of a schol-
arship awarded under this chapter for any academic
year shall be equal to $5,000.
‘‘(2) ADJUSTMENT FOR INSUFFICIENT APPRO-
PRIATIONS.—If, after the Secretary determines the
total number of students selected under section
407D for an academic year, funds available to carry
out this chapter for the academic year are insuffi-
cient to fully fund all awards under this chapter for
the academic year, the amount of the scholarship
paid to each student under this chapter shall be re-
duced proportionately.
‘‘(b) ASSISTANCE NOT TO EXCEED COST OF AT-
TENDANCE.—A scholarship awarded under this chapter to
any student, in combination with the Federal Pell Grant
assistance and other student financial assistance available
to such student, may not exceed the student’s cost of at-
tendance.
‘‘SEC. 407D. SELECTION OF SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS.
‘‘The Secretary shall designate a panel to select stu-
dents for the award of scholarships under this chapter.
Such panel shall be composed of 9 individuals who are
selected by the Secretary and shall be composed of equal
numbers of youths, community representatives, and teach-
ers. The Secretary shall ensure that no individual assigned
under this section to review any application has any con-
flict of interest with regard to the application that might
impair the impartiality with which the individual conducts
the review under this section.
‘‘SEC. 407E. APPLICATIONS.
‘‘Any eligible student desiring to obtain a scholarship
under this section shall submit to the Secretary an appli-
cation at such time, in such manner, and containing such
information or assurances as the Secretary may require.
Such application shall—
‘‘(1) demonstrate that the eligible student is
maintaining satisfactory academic progress and is
achieving at least an grade point average of at least
2.0 (on a scale of 4), or its equivalent;
‘‘(2) include a recommendation from (A) the
supervisor of the community service of the applicant,
and (B) a teacher, pastor, employer, or other indi-
vidual familiar with the character of the applicant;
and
‘‘(3) include an essay by the applicant on the
nature of the community service performed by the
applicant.
‘‘SEC. 407F. REGULATIONS.
‘‘The Secretary shall prescribe such regulations as
may be necessary to carry out this chapter.
‘‘SEC. 407G. EVALUATION.
‘‘Not less than 2 years after the first fiscal year for
which funds are made available under this chapter, the
Secretary shall prepare and submit to the Congress an
evaluation of the effectiveness of the program under this
chapter. Such evaluation shall include—
‘‘(1) an evaluation of the demand, by grade
level and types of community service sites, for the
scholarships provided under this chapter;
‘‘(2) general data on the background of pro-
gram participants and the types of service per-
formed; and
‘‘(3) an itemization of the costs of admin-
istering the program under this chapter.
‘‘SEC. 407H. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out
this chapter $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2002 and each of
the 3 succeeding fiscal years.’’.
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