[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1247 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1247

 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish a scholarship 
    program to encourage and support students who have contributed 
                      substantial public services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 14, 2005

   Mr. Dodd (for himself, Ms. Mikulski, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Levin, Ms. 
Cantwell, and Mr. Kerry) introduced the following bill; which was read 
 twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
                                Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish a scholarship 
    program to encourage and support students who have contributed 
                      substantial public services.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Youth Service Scholarship Act of 
2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) young people under 18 years of age are now our Nation's 
        most impoverished age group, with 1 of every 5 living in 
        poverty, a higher proportion than in 1968, and the percentage 
        of minority children living in poverty is about twice as high;
            (2) more than 1 of 4 families is headed by a single parent 
        and the percentage of such families has risen steadily over the 
        past few decades, rising 13 percent since 1990;
            (3) there is a need to engage youth as active participants 
        in decisionmaking that affects their lives, including in the 
        design, development, implementation, and evaluation of youth 
        development programs at the Federal, State, and community 
        levels;
            (4) existing outcome driven youth development strategies, 
        pioneered by community-based organizations, hold real promise 
        for promoting positive behaviors and preventing youth problems;
            (5) formal evaluations of youth development programs have 
        documented significant reductions in drug and alcohol use, 
        school misbehavior, aggressive behavior, violence, truancy, 
        high-risk sexual behavior, and smoking;
            (6) compared to youth in the United States generally, youth 
        participating in community-based organizations are more than 26 
        percent more likely to report having received recognition for 
        good grades than youth in the United States generally and 
        nearly 20 percent more likely to rate the likelihood of their 
        going to college as very high; and
            (7) the availability and use of Federal resources can be an 
        effective incentive to leverage broader community support to 
        enable local programs, activities, and services to provide the 
        full array of developmental core resources, remove barriers to 
        access, promote program effectiveness, and facilitate 
        coordination and collaboration within the community.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

    Subpart 2 of part A of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1070a-11 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating section 407E as section 406E; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:

                 ``CHAPTER 4--PUBLIC SERVICE INCENTIVES

``SEC. 407A. PURPOSE.

    ``The purpose of this chapter is to establish a scholarship program 
to reward low-income students who have, during high school, and who 
continue, during college, to make significant public service 
contributions to their communities.

``SEC. 407B. SCHOLARSHIPS AUTHORIZED.

    ``(a) Qualifications for Scholarships.--The Secretary is authorized 
to award a scholarship to enable a student to pay the cost of 
attendance at an institution of higher education during the student's 
first 4 academic years of undergraduate education, if the student--
            ``(1) in order to be eligible for the first year of such 
        scholarship, performed not less than 300 hours of qualifying 
        public service during each of 2 academic years of the student's 
        secondary school enrollment;
            ``(2) in order to be eligible for the second or any 
        subsequent year of such scholarship, performed not less than 
        300 hours of qualifying public service during the academic year 
        of postsecondary school attendance preceding the academic year 
        for which the student seeks such scholarship;
            ``(3) was eligible for a free or reduced price lunch under 
        the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 
        1721 et seq.);
            ``(4) is eligible to receive Federal Pell Grants for the 
        year in which the scholarships are awarded, except that a 
        student shall not be required to comply or verify compliance 
        with section 484(a)(5) for purposes of receiving a scholarship 
        under this chapter; and
            ``(5) otherwise demonstrates compliance with regulations 
        prescribed by the Secretary under section 407G.
    ``(b) Definition of Qualifying Public Service.--For purposes of 
subsection (a), the term `qualifying public service' means service that 
would be eligible for treatment as community service under the National 
and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12501 et seq.) or under 
the Federal work-study program under part C.

``SEC. 407C. AMOUNT OF SCHOLARSHIP.

    ``(a) Amount of Award.--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2) and 
        subsection (b), the amount of a scholarship awarded under this 
        chapter for any academic year shall be equal to $5,000.
            ``(2) Adjustment for insufficient appropriations.--If, 
        after the Secretary determines the total number of students 
        selected under section 407D for an academic year, funds 
        available to carry out this chapter for the academic year are 
        insufficient to fully fund all awards under this chapter for 
        the academic year, the amount of the scholarship paid to each 
        student under this chapter shall be reduced proportionately.
    ``(b) Assistance Not to Exceed Cost of Attendance.--A scholarship 
awarded under this chapter to any student, in combination with the 
Federal Pell Grant assistance and other student financial assistance 
available to such student, may not exceed the student's cost of 
attendance.

``SEC. 407D. SELECTION OF SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS.

    ``The Secretary shall designate a panel to select students for the 
award of scholarships under this chapter. Such panel shall be composed 
of 9 individuals who are selected by the Secretary and shall be 
composed of equal numbers of youths, community representatives, and 
teachers. The Secretary shall ensure that no individual assigned under 
this section to review any application has any conflict of interest 
with regard to the application that might impair the impartiality with 
which the individual conducts the review under this section.

``SEC. 407E. APPLICATIONS.

    ``Any eligible student desiring to obtain a scholarship under this 
section shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in 
such manner, and containing such information or assurances as the 
Secretary may require. Such application shall--
            ``(1) demonstrate that the eligible student is maintaining 
        satisfactory academic progress and is achieving a grade point 
        average of at least 3.0 (on a scale of 4), or its equivalent;
            ``(2) include a recommendation from--
                    ``(A) the supervisor of the community service 
                project of the applicant; and
                    ``(B) another individual not related to, but 
                familiar with the character of the applicant such as a 
                teacher, coach, or employer; and
            ``(3) include an essay by the applicant on the nature of 
        the community service performed by the applicant.

``SEC. 407F. PROGRAM DISSEMINATION AND PROMOTION.

    ``(a) Development and Dissemination.--The Secretary shall develop 
and disseminate to the public information on the availability of, and 
application process for, scholarships under this chapter.
    ``(b) Promotion.--In disseminating information about the 
scholarship program under this chapter, the Secretary shall--
            ``(1) disseminate such information directly or through 
        arrangements with local educational agencies, public and 
        private elementary schools and secondary schools, nonprofit 
        organizations, consumer groups, Federal, State, or local 
        agencies, and the media; and
            ``(2) at a minimum, include a description and the purpose 
        of the scholarship program, an explanation of how to obtain an 
        application, and a description of the application process and 
        procedures.

``SEC. 407G. REGULATIONS.

    ``The Secretary shall prescribe such regulations as may be 
necessary to carry out this chapter.

``SEC. 407H. EVALUATION.

    ``Not earlier than 2 years after the first fiscal year for which 
funds are made available under this chapter, the Secretary shall 
prepare and submit to Congress an evaluation of the effectiveness of 
the program under this chapter. Such evaluation shall include--
            ``(1) an evaluation of the demand, by grade level and types 
        of community service sites, for the scholarships provided under 
        this chapter;
            ``(2) general data on the background of program 
        participants and the types of service performed; and
            ``(3) an itemization of the costs of administering the 
        program under this chapter.

``SEC. 407I. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this chapter 
$5,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 and such sums as are necessary for each 
of the 3 succeeding fiscal years.''.
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