College Access and Opportunity Act of 2005

COLLEGE ACCESS AND OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - March 29, 2006)

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Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First of all, I want to thank Mr. Keller and Mr. Miller for the work they have been doing on this particular bill, H.R. 609.

My amendment is a very straightforward amendment that allows the student aid application process to be simple and straightforward and make sure that it complies with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, to make sure that it meets the expectations of today's students.

We want to make sure that we reduce the paperwork, and when we talk about student aid, that we minimize the amount of paperwork involved; and especially when we work on trying to get the free application for Federal student aid paperwork and the other work to make sure that when a student is trying to get this information, we reduce the paperwork and make it as simple as possible.

The second part of the amendment calls for a one-stop center for finding financial aid for students. As Members know, in order to get this information, whether you are talking about students, parents, or counselors across the Nation, it is sometimes difficult to get this information. The more we can enhance the one-stop center so the information is in one place, this will make it easier on the students and make sure that we do one thing, and that is, make student aid opportunities as accessible and as simple as possible for the students, the parents and the counselors.

I believe this amendment is acceptable to both Mr. George Miller and Mr. Keller.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. CUELLAR. Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Again, I thank Mr. Keller and Mr. Miller for allowing me to present this particular amendment. This amendment is very simple. It deals with the Pell Grant Plus. The Pell Grant Plus is an excellent program that allows extra financial aid to students that take the extra recommended courses or the college preparatory courses.

Studies show that students who take the college preparatory courses, two things are going to happen: one, their success rate in college increases, and the second part is that the probability or the possibility of those students going off to college will increase. So providing this incentive through Pell Grant Plus to make sure that they take the college preparatory courses is good for all students across the Nation.

This amendment, what it does is instead of just allowing the academic courses from universities, this allows students to take the certificates from universities or colleges across the Nation to be allowed to take this Pell Grant Plus and to be eligible to receive Federal student aid.

Examples of certificate programs from my district and across the United States, Palo Alto College provides certificate programs in accounting and electromechanical technology. Texas A&M International University in Laredo allows education certificates in early, middle school and high school education, and other universities also do this. This allows the students who take those certificate programs to be eligible for the Pell Grant Plus.

Again, the Pell Grant Plus is an excellent incentive, and what I am trying to do is make sure that students across the board take those college preparatory courses. This will be good for education in general.

Again, I believe this amendment is acceptable to Mr. Keller and to Mr. Miller also.

Madam Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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