Senators Warren, Brown, Hirono, and Murphy, Representatives Hayes, Scanlon, and McBath Introduce Bicameral Legislation Restoring Pell Grant Eligibility to Victims of Predatory For-Profit Colleges
Warren, Colleagues Call for Pell Grant Eligibility to be Restored for Defrauded Students
WASHINGTON – Last week, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Representative Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) along with Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Chris Murphy (D-Conn) as well as Representatives Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), and Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) reintroduced the Pell Grant Restoration Act in both the House and Senate. This critical legislation would amend Title IV of the Higher Education Act to restore students’ Pell Grant eligibility for any period of time during which they would have qualified for loan forgiveness due to school closure or institutional fraud or misconduct.
Under existing federal law, all students are entitled to 12 semesters of Pell Grant eligibility. Students that were cheated, or were attending a for-profit college when it closed, used Pell Grants to do so, and now find themselves trying to attain an actual education without Pell Grant assistance.
This results in a situation where students are stuck with mounds of debt, credits or credentials with little to no value, and no means to acquire the education necessary to secure gainful employment.