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Week Ending September 9, 2005

 

H.R.3169 To provide the Secretary of Education with waiver authority for students who are eligible for Pell Grants who are adversely affected by a natural disaster.
                                                                            

BRIEF

   The bill (introduced in June 2005) would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 by authorizing the Secretary of Education to waive Pell Grant repayments if a student withdraws from a college or university due to a disaster.

   The bill would apply to Pell Grant recipients who reside in, work in or attend schools in an area designated by the President as a major disaster area or whose attendance at school is interrupted by the disaster during the academic year or the next academic year.

   The bill does not contain repayment provisions regarding students who do not later return to school or who die as a result of the disaster.

 

Sponsor: Representative Ric Keller (R-FL-8th)

Vote: Passed House 412 to 0 (RC 457) (September 7, 2005)

Cost to the taxpayers: No cost data has been provided

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MORE INFORMATION

A BILL

To provide the Secretary of Education with waiver authority for students who are eligible for Pell Grants who are adversely affected by a natural disaster.

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 Hurricane and Disaster Relief Act'.

SEC. 2. WAIVERS OF PELL GRANT REPAYMENT BY STUDENTS AFFECTED BY DISASTERS.

Section 484B(b)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1091b(b)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

`(D) WAIVERS OF PELL GRANT REPAYMENT BY STUDENTS AFFECTED BY DISASTERS- The Secretary may waive the amounts that students are required to return under this section with respect to Pell grants if the withdrawals on which the returns are based are withdrawals--

`(i) by students--

`(I) who were residing in, employed in, or attending an institution of higher education that is located in an area that is designated by the President to warrant major disaster assistance under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); and

`(II) whose attendance was interrupted because of the impact of the disaster on the student or the institution; and

`(ii) that end within the academic year during which the designation occurred or during the next succeeding academic year.'.

 

 

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