AID Act

Summary

Achieving Independence through Degrees Act or the AID Act This bill revises certain federal student-aid programs. Among other things, it expands access to Pell Grants, expands loan counseling requirements, revises the Federal Work-Study Program, updates the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process, and extends Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program) benefits to certain students. First, it expands access to Pell Grants by (1) increasing the maximum award and indexing it for inflation, (2) increasing the semester eligibility limit to 15 semesters, and (3) extending eligibility to certain short-term workforce training programs. It modifies student loan counseling requirements applicable to institutions of higher education (IHEs) by requiring annual financial counseling and expanding exit counseling. The Department of Education (ED) must maintain an online counseling tool that provides annual and exit counseling. Additionally, it permanently reauthorizes the Federal Work-Study Program and otherwise revises the program, including by allocating program funds to IHEs based on the amount of Pell Grant funds received by each IHE. It establishes a pilot program that provides work-based learning opportunities for students who demonstrate exceptional financial need. It requires ED to allow students to complete FAFSA as independent students under special circumstances. It repeals a provision that makes students convicted of drug-related offenses ineligible for federal student aid and prohibits ED from asking about drug-related convictions on FAFSA. The bill also allows certain students, including those who have an expected family contribution of zero, to qualify for SNAP benefits.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

3 official files

• Introduced in House (text)

  Introduced in House · EN · 5 June 2019

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in House (PDF)

  Introduced in House · EN · 5 June 2019

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 5 June 2019

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.