I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7297 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide basic and emergency 
supplemental living assistance grants under the student support services 
program. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 13, 2018 
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois 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 
basic and emergency supplemental living assistance 
grants under the student support services program. 
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 ‘‘Earl N. Williams, Sr., 
First Chance Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SUPPLEMENTAL LIVING ASSISTANCE IN THE STU-
DENT SUPPORT SERVICES PROGRAM. 
Section 402D of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1070a–14) is amended— 
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(1) in subsection (b)— 
(A) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
(B) in paragraph (6), by striking the pe-
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(7) basic and emergency supplemental living 
assistance grants in accordance with subsection 
(f).’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(f) BASIC AND EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL LIV-
ING ASSISTANCE GRANTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the activi-
ties required under subsection (b)(7) with a grant 
received under this section, the recipient of such 
grant shall provide basic and emergency supple-
mental living assistance grants to assist students 
who are current participants in the student support 
services program offered by the institution (in this 
subsection referred to as ‘eligible students’)— 
‘‘(A) in the case of a basic supplemental 
living assistance grant, in covering reasonable, 
anticipated expenses necessary for the comple-
tion of an academic year of the students’ first 
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undergraduate baccalaureate course of study; 
and 
‘‘(B) in the case of an emergency supple-
mental living assistance grant, in covering rea-
sonable, unanticipated expenses necessary for 
the students to persist in college during such 
academic year. 
‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—The recipient may 
determine— 
‘‘(A) the appropriate division of the funds 
between basic and emergency supplemental as-
sistance grants, except that funds shall be pro-
vided for both basic and emergency grants; 
‘‘(B) the amount of each such grant and 
the total grant funds that an eligible student 
may receive, except that a student may not re-
ceive more than a total of $500 in emergency 
supplemental assistance grants per academic 
year; and 
‘‘(C) the anticipated and unanticipated ex-
penses referred to in paragraph (1) that such 
grants will cover based on the needs of eligible 
students, which— 
‘‘(i) may vary by factors including 
academic year, housing, parental status, lo-
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cation in urban or rural area, or other cir-
cumstances; and 
‘‘(ii) for an individual student, may 
cover— 
‘‘(I) any component of the cost of 
attendance for the student; 
‘‘(II) an allowance for actual or 
expected expenses incurred for de-
pendent care that exceeds such ex-
penses determined for the student 
under section 472(8); 
‘‘(III) an allowance for actual or 
expected expenses for transportation 
that exceeds such expenses deter-
mined for the student under section 
472; and 
‘‘(IV) personal items or expenses 
not otherwise covered by the cost of 
attendance for the student. 
‘‘(3) PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL FUNDS.—The re-
cipient may use not more than 2 percent of the 
funds awarded under this section for grants under 
this subsection. 
‘‘(4) DETERMINATION OF NEED.—A grant pro-
vided to a student under this subsection shall not be 
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considered in determining that student’s need for 
grant or work assistance under this title, except that 
in no case shall the total amount of student financial 
assistance awarded to a student under this title ex-
ceed that student’s cost of attendance by more than 
$500. 
‘‘(5) CONSULTATION.—In making grants to 
students under this subsection, an institution shall 
ensure that adequate consultation takes place be-
tween the student support service program office 
and the institution’s financial aid office. 
‘‘(6) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds re-
ceived by a grant recipient that are used under this 
subsection shall be used to supplement, and not sup-
plant, non-Federal funds expended for student sup-
port services programs. 
‘‘(7) FUNDS.—For a fiscal year for which the 
funds allocated for projects authorized under this 
section from the amounts appropriated pursuant to 
the authority of section 402A(g) exceeds the funds 
allocated for such purpose for fiscal year 2019, not 
more than 2 percent of such excess funds may be 
made available for grants under this subsection. 
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‘‘(8) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 
‘cost of attendance’ has the meaning given the term 
in section 472.’’. 
Æ 
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