“To provide for the basic needs of students at institutions of higher education.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes planning grants, awarded competitively by the Secretary to institutions of higher education, to research and plan strategies that reduce student food insecurity, housing insecurity, and homelessness while addressing other basic needs such as child care, transportation, and technology access. Eligible institutions must form a basic needs steering committee of students, staff, faculty, and community representatives; conduct disaggregated research on unmet needs and institutional barriers; and develop and begin implementing a coordinated strategy drawing on campus and off-campus resources.
This section requires the Secretary of Education to enter into data-sharing agreements with federal and state agencies administering specified benefit programs to identify FAFSA applicants potentially eligible for those programs, notify them of eligibility or renewal requirements, coordinate enrollment with institutions, and develop related communications. It expands the list of covered programs to include SNAP, SSI, TANF, WIC, Medicaid, federal housing assistance, child care assistance, free and reduced-price school lunch, and specified tax credits. It also directs the Secretary to provide written and electronic information and applications for such programs to eligible applicants.
This section requires the Secretary of Education to issue a public report not later than 2 years after enactment of the BASIC Act of 2026, and every 4 years thereafter, containing nationally representative statistics on food, housing, transportation, child care, and other basic needs insecurity among students who applied for Federal financial aid and enrolled in higher education, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, income quintile, first-generation status, Pell Grant eligibility, disability status, student parent status, sex, military or veteran benefit status, and state to the extent practicable. It also requires a report to the authorizing and appropriations committees within 1 year after enactment on progress connecting such students to federally funded benefit programs, including implementation concerns and solutions.