“To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase the Federal student loan limits for students in flight education and training programs.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section requires institutions to provide specified disclosures (i.e., loan principal, interest rate, repayment terms, estimated balance at repayment start, projected monthly payment, and total amount paid over loan life) at or prior to disbursement of Federal Direct Stafford Loans and Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loans made after enactment to eligible students (i.e., those enrolled in eligible undergraduate flight education and training programs) and establishes higher annual limits for Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loans to such students notwithstanding other HEA provisions. Eligible undergraduate flight education and training programs are accredited programs at eligible institutions awarding undergraduate credentials that provide part 141 pilot training for commercial pilot certificates (initially meeting applicable HEA requirements; requiring a 70% three-year average completion rate after three years of data collection under Secretary of Education rules developed with FAA input). For dependent eligible students, the maximum annual amount increases to $20,500 (or prorated for programs shorter than one academic year) for those not completing the first program year and to $31,500 (or prorated) for those completing the first year but not the remainder. (Thus, these limits exceed standard dependent undergraduate annual amounts of $5,500-$7,500 total Stafford borrowing.)
This section directs the Comptroller General of the United States, not later than two years after enactment, to review implementation of this Act—including (1) the number of institutions offering undergraduate flight education and training programs eligible for Direct Loans, (2) enrollment and demographic data for students in such programs, (3) those students' Direct Loan participation levels and demographics, and (4) institutional feedback—and to develop recommendations for the Department of Education. The Comptroller General must submit a report on these findings and recommendations to the Senate Committees on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and the House Committees on Education and Workforce and Transportation and Infrastructure.
This section authorizes appropriations of $3 million for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2035 (available until expended), in addition to other available amounts, to the Secretary of Education to carry out the amendments made by this Act.