Bill > HR2845

This bill, known as the "Preparing and Resourcing Our Student Parents and Early Childhood Teachers Act" (PROSPECT Act), aims to address child care challenges for college students by establishing competitive federal grants for community colleges and minority-serving institutions. The bill creates a comprehensive grant program with four main types of grants: planning grants, access grants, impact grants, and pipeline grants. Planning grants will help institutions assess child care needs and develop strategies, while access grants will provide free infant and toddler child care for up to 500,000 children of student parents. Impact grants will support expanding child care providers and quality through training and technical assistance, and pipeline grants will focus on developing early childhood education programs and workforce training. The bill recognizes that student parents, particularly those from low-income and minority communities, face significant barriers to educational completion due to child care challenges, and seeks to address these issues by providing substantial funding (approximately $9 billion from 2026-2030) to support child care access, provider training, and educational pathways. Additionally, the bill includes provisions to improve child care eligibility standards, increase federal matching payments for child care, and enhance outreach about dependent care allowances for federal student aid, with a strong emphasis on supporting diverse and underserved student populations.

Education

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2845/all-info