per-student rebate amount for each student, for not more 
than the first 60 credits an eligible student enrolls in the 
participating eligible institution. 
SEC. 202. PATHWAYS TO STUDENT SUCCESS FOR HISPANIC- 
SERVING INSTITUTIONS, ASIAN AMERICAN 
AND NATIVE AMERICAN PACIFIC ISLANDER- 
SERVING INSTITUTIONS, TRIBAL COLLEGES 
AND UNIVERSITIES, ALASKA NATIVE-SERV-
ING INSTITUTIONS, NATIVE HAWAIIAN-SERV-
ING INSTITUTIONS, PREDOMINANTLY BLACK 
INSTITUTIONS, AND NATIVE AMERICAN-SERV-
ING NONTRIBAL INSTITUTIONS. 
(a) IN
GENERAL.—From amounts appropriated 
under section 204(a) for any fiscal year, the Secretary 
shall award grants to participating 4-year minority-serving 
institutions to— 
(1) encourage students to enroll as first-time 
students and successfully complete a bachelor’s de-
gree at participating institutions; 
(2) provide incentives to community college stu-
dents to transfer to participating institutions 
through strong transfer pathways to complete a 
bachelor’s degree program; and 
(3) support participating institutions to better 
serve new and existing students by engaging in re-
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forms and innovations designed to improve comple-
tion rates and other student outcomes. 
(b) INSTITUTIONAL ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to 
participate and receive a grant under this section, an insti-
tution shall be a minority-serving institution that— 
(1) has a student body of which not less than 
35 percent are low-income students; 
(2) commits to maintaining or adopting and im-
plementing promising and evidence-based institu-
tional reforms and innovative practices to improve 
the completion rates and other student outcomes, 
such as— 
(A) providing comprehensive academic and 
student support services, including mentoring 
and advising; 
(B) providing accelerated learning opportu-
nities and degree pathways, such as dual enroll-
ment and pathways to graduate and profes-
sional degree programs; 
(C) advancing distance and competency- 
based education; 
(D) partnering with employers, industry, 
not-for-profit associations, and other groups to 
provide opportunities to advance learning out-
side the classroom, including work-based learn-
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ing opportunities such as internships or appren-
ticeships or programs designed to improve 
inter-cultural development and personal growth, 
such as foreign exchange and study abroad pro-
grams; 
(E) reforming remedial education, espe-
cially for low-income students, first generation 
college students, adult students, and other 
underrepresented students; and 
(F) implementing course redesigns of high- 
enrollment courses to improve student outcomes 
and reduce cost; 
(3) sets performance goals for improving stu-
dent outcomes for the duration of the grant; and 
(4) if receiving a grant for transfer students, 
has articulation agreements with community colleges 
at the national, State, or local levels to ensure that 
community college credits can fully transfer to the 
participating institution. 
(c) GRANT AMOUNT.— 
(1) INITIAL AMOUNT.—For the first year that 
an eligible institution participates in the grant pro-
gram under this section and subject to paragraph 
(3), such participating eligible institution shall re-
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ceive a grant in an amount based on the product 
of— 
(A) the actual cost of tuition and fees at 
the eligible institution in such year (referred to 
in this section as the per-student rebate); multi-
plied by 
(B) the number of eligible students en-
rolled in the eligible institution for the pre-
ceding year. 
(2) SUBSEQUENT INCREASES.—For each suc-
ceeding year after the first year of the grant pro-
gram under this section, each participating eligible 
institution shall receive a grant in the amount deter-
mined under paragraph (1) for such year, except 
that in no case shall the amount of the per-student 
rebate increase by more than 3 percent as compared 
to the amount of such rebate for the preceding year. 
(3) LIMITATIONS.— 
(A) MAXIMUM
PER-STUDENT
REBATE.— 
No eligible institution participating in the grant 
program under this section shall receive a per- 
student rebate amount for a grant year greater 
than the national average of public four-year in-
stitutional tuition and fees, as determined by 
the Secretary. 
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(B) FIRST
YEAR
TUITION
AND
FEES.— 
During the first year of participation in the 
grant program under this section, no eligible in-
stitution may increase tuition and fees at a rate 
greater than any annual increase made by the 
institution in the previous 5 years. 
(d) APPLICATION.—An eligible institution shall sub-
mit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such 
a manner, and containing such information as determined 
by the Secretary. 
(e) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds awarded under this sec-
tion to a participating eligible institution shall be used to 
waive or significantly reduce tuition and fees for eligible 
students in an amount of not more than up to the annual 
per-student rebate amount for each student, for not more 
than the first 60 credits an eligible student enrolls in the 
participating eligible institution. 
SEC. 203. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title: 
(1) ELIGIBLE STUDENT.— 
(A) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘eligible stu-
dent’’ means a student, regardless of age, 
who— 
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(i)(I) enrolls in a historically black 
college or university, or minority-serving 
institution, for the first time; or 
(II) transfers from a community col-
lege into a historically black college or uni-
versity, or minority-serving institution, for 
the first time; 
(ii) attends the historically black col-
lege or university, or minority serving in-
stitution, on at least a half-time basis; 
(iii) maintains satisfactory academic 
progress; and 
(iv) is a low-income student. 
(B) SPECIAL RULES.— 
(i) FIRST 3 YEARS.—An otherwise eli-
gible student shall lose eligibility 3 cal-
endar years after first receiving benefits 
under this title. 
(ii) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN STU-
DENTS.—Notwithstanding 
subparagraph 
(A)(i), an otherwise eligible student whose 
parent or guardian was denied a Federal 
Direct PLUS loan under title IV of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1070 et seq.) after November 2011 and be-
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fore March 29, 2015, and who subse-
quently withdrew from a historically black 
college or university, or minority-serving 
institution, and has not yet completed a 
program of study at such historically black 
college or university or minority-serving in-
stitution, shall be eligible to participate 
under section 201 or 202 in order to com-
plete such program of study, subject to all 
other requirements of section 201 or 202 
(as the case may be). 
(2) HISTORICALLY
BLACK
COLLEGE
OR
UNI-
VERSITY.—The term ‘‘historically black college or 
university’’ means a part B institution described in 
section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1061(2)). 
(3) LOW-INCOME STUDENT.—The term ‘‘low-in-
come student’’ has the meaning given such term by 
the Secretary, except that such term shall not ex-
clude any student eligible for a Federal Pell Grant 
under section 401 of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a). 
(4) 
MINORITY-SERVING
INSTITUTION.—The 
term ‘‘minority-serving institution’’ means any pub-
lic or not-for-profit institution of higher education— 
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(A) described in paragraphs (2) through 
(7) of section 371(a) of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067q); and 
(B) designated as a minority-serving insti-
tution by the Secretary. 
SEC. 204. APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION
AND
APPROPRIATIONS
FOR 
HBCU AND MSI GRANTS.—For the purpose of carrying 
out sections 201 and 202, there are authorized to be ap-
propriated, and there are appropriated— 
(1) $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2016; 
(2) $180,000,000 for fiscal year 2017; 
(3) $1,072,000,000 for fiscal year 2018; 
(4) $1,115,000,000 for fiscal year 2019; 
(5) $1,160,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; 
(6) $1,206,000,000 for fiscal year 2021; 
(7) $1,225,000,000 for fiscal year 2022; 
(8) $1,306,000,000 for fiscal year 2023; 
(9) $1,359,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; and 
(10) $1,414,000,000 for fiscal year 2025 and 
each succeeding fiscal year. 
(b) AVAILABILITY.—Funds appropriated under sub-
section (a) are to remain available to the Secretary until 
expended. 
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(c) INSUFFICIENT FUNDS.—If the amount appro-
priated under subsection (a) for a fiscal year is not suffi-
cient to award each participating institution in the grant 
programs under sections 201 and 202 a grant under this 
part equal to 100 percent of the grant amount determined 
under section 201(c), the Secretary may ratably reduce 
the amount of each such grant or take other actions nec-
essary to ensure an equitable distribution of such amount. 
Æ 
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