To increase rates of college completion and reduce college costs by accelerating time to degree, aligning secondary and postsecondary education, and improving postsecondary credit transfer.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill creates a new federal grant program called "Accelerating Time to Degree" that provides competitive grants to states to expand early college pathways. The goal is to help high school students earn college credits faster through Advanced Placement courses, dual enrollment programs, and early college high schools, reducing both the time and cost of obtaining a college degree.
Who Benefits and How
High school students benefit by gaining access to Federal Pell Grants while still in high school to cover tuition and fees for dual enrollment courses. Colleges and universities benefit from increased enrollment and federal funding support. States receive competitive grants to build infrastructure for credit transfer systems and early college programs.
Who Bears the Burden and How
States must maintain their existing funding levels for advanced coursework (maintenance of effort requirement) or risk losing federal funds. Institutions of higher education must align their credit transfer policies with state requirements. The federal government bears the cost of new appropriations and evaluation requirements.
Key Provisions
- Creates Federal Pell Grant eligibility for qualifying high school students in early college pathways
- Awards 5-year competitive grants to states for implementing early college fast track programs
- Requires states to establish credit transfer policies between high schools and colleges
- Mandates independent evaluation of program outcomes by 2028
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a competitive grant program to accelerate time to college degree by supporting early college pathways, dual enrollment, and credit transfer systems for high school students
Key Policy Areas
Education, Higher Education, Workforce Development
Primary Purpose
Creates a competitive grant program to accelerate time to college degree by supporting early college pathways, dual enrollment, and credit transfer systems for high school students
Policy Domains
Subpart 5 - Accelerating Time to Degree
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- High school students pursuing early college credits
- Low-income students eligible for Pell Grants
- State education agencies
- Community colleges
- Four-year colleges and universities
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- States receiving grants (maintenance of effort requirement)
- Federal government (new appropriations)
- Institutions of higher education (credit transfer alignment)
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMs. Hassan (for herself and Mr. Young) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Local educational agencies, Local educational agencies/school districts, State education agencies
Positive-direction: Local educational agencies, Local educational agencies/school districts, State education agencies, States and education institutions, States with existing early college programs
Negative-direction: State education agencies receiving grants, States receiving grants
High school students in early college fast track pathways, High school students in grant states, High school students meeting eligibility criteria
Colleges and universities offering dual enrollment, Colleges offering dual enrollment, Higher education institutions
Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences
Education research and evaluation contractors, Education research and evaluation firms
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_director"
- → Director of the Institute of Education Sciences
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Education
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Coursework designed for students to earn postsecondary credit while still in high school, such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, dual or concurrent enrollment programs, and early college high school programs
A sequence of dual enrollment, AP, IB, or other advanced coursework that constitutes a typical first year of postsecondary study toward an associate or baccalaureate degree
A State, or a consortium of States, acting through the State educational agency or State higher education agency
A student who is enrolled in high school, meets financial eligibility requirements for a Federal Pell Grant, and participates in an early college fast track pathway
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