Title: Pell Grant Restoration Act
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Pell Grant Restoration Act
This bill restores a student's Pell Grant eligibility for any period of time during which the student qualified for, or would have qualified for, federal student loan forgiveness due to school closure, assertion of a defense against repayment, or institutional fraud or misconduct.
Specifically, this bill provides that Pell Grants received by a student during that period of time do not count toward the student's lifetime Pell Grant eligibility period (currently 12 full-time semesters).

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4298 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4298

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to restore Federal Pell Grant 
                    eligibility for certain periods.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 12, 2019

Mrs. Hayes (for herself, Mrs. McBath, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Finkenauer, Mr. 
  Sablan, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Langevin, Ms. Meng, Mr. Lujan, Ms. Lee of 
   California, Ms. Moore, Mr. Pocan, and Ms. Porter) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
                                 Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to restore Federal Pell Grant 
                    eligibility for certain periods.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pell Grant Restoration Act''.

SEC. 2. RESTORING FEDERAL PELL GRANT ELIGIBILITY FOR BORROWER DEFENSE.

    Section 401(c)(5) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1070a(c)(5)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(5) The period'' and inserting the 
        following:
            ``(5) Maximum period.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), the period''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Exception.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Any Federal Pell Grant 
                        that a student received during a period 
                        described in subclause (I) or (II) of clause 
                        (ii) shall not count towards the student's 
                        duration limits under this paragraph.
                            ``(ii) Applicable periods.--Clause (i) 
                        shall apply with respect to any Federal Pell 
                        Grant awarded to a student to attend an 
                        institution--
                                    ``(I) during a period--
                                            ``(aa) for which the 
                                        student received a loan under 
                                        this title; and
                                            ``(bb) for which the loan 
                                        described in item (aa) is 
                                        forgiven under--

                                                    ``(AA) section 
                                                437(c)(1) or 464(g)(1) 
                                                due to the closing of 
                                                the institution;

                                                    ``(BB) section 
                                                455(h) due to the 
                                                student's successful 
                                                assertion of a defense 
                                                to repayment of the 
                                                loan; or

                                                    ``(CC) section 
                                                432(a)(6), section 
                                                685.215 of title 34, 
                                                Code of Federal 
                                                Regulations (or a 
                                                successor regulation), 
                                                or any other loan 
                                                forgiveness provision 
                                                or regulation under 
                                                this Act, as a result 
                                                of a determination by 
                                                the Secretary or a 
                                                court that the 
                                                institution committed 
                                                fraud or other 
                                                misconduct; or

                                    ``(II) during a period for which 
                                the student did not receive a loan 
                                under this title but for which, if the 
                                student had received such a loan, the 
                                student would have qualified for loan 
                                forgiveness under subclause (I)(bb).''.
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