College Thriving Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The College Thriving Act authorizes the Education Secretary to award competitive five-year grants to eligible institutions to build and run skills-for-success courses for all first-year students. The Secretary must prioritize institutions where at least 50 percent of students in the most recent academic year were Pell Grant eligible. Grant funds support staged implementation: first-year course design, staff training, infrastructure, approvals, registration planning, evaluation design, and classroom space; second-year pilots and evaluation methods; later broader implementation and improvement. The bill authorizes $50 million, available until expended.
Who Benefits and How
First-year college students benefit from structured courses on skills needed to persist and succeed in college. Pell-heavy institutions benefit because the grant competition prioritizes schools serving large numbers of low-income students. Instructional staff benefit from funding for training and course-development infrastructure. Student-success offices benefit from resources to evaluate behavior, persistence, and other impact measures.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Department of Education must run a competitive grant program and judge institutional applications. Eligible institutions must design, pilot, evaluate, and scale skills-for-success courses over a five-year period. Faculty governance bodies may need to approve new course curricula, syllabi, and registration procedures. Federal taxpayers fund the $50 million authorization.
Key Provisions
- Creates competitive grants for first-year skills-for-success courses.
- Prioritizes institutions where at least 50 percent of students are Pell Grant eligible.
- Requires staged course development, piloting, evaluation, scaling, and reporting.
- Authorizes $50 million to remain available until expended.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a $50 million competitive Education Department grant program for five-year first-year college skills-for-success courses, with priority for institutions where at least half of students are Pell Grant eligible.
Key Policy Areas
Higher Education, Student Success, Federal Grants
Primary Purpose
Creates a $50 million competitive Education Department grant program for five-year first-year college skills-for-success courses, with priority for institutions where at least half of students are Pell Grant eligible.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- First-year college students
- Pell-heavy institutions
- Instructional staff
- Student-success offices
Identified Costs
- Department of Education
- Eligible institutions
- Faculty governance bodies
- Federal taxpayers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMrs. Foushee introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
First-year college students, Pell-heavy institutions
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology