One Hundred Ninth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the fourth day of January, two thousand and five

An Act

To provide the Secretary of Education with waiver authority for students who are eligible for Pell Grants who are adversely affected by a natural disaster.

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 `Pell Grant Hurricane and Disaster Relief Act'.

SEC. 2. WAIVERS OF FEDERAL PELL GRANT REPAYMENT BY STUDENTS AFFECTED BY DISASTERS.

Section 484B(b)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1091b(b)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

`(D) WAIVERS OF FEDERAL PELL GRANT REPAYMENT BY STUDENTS AFFECTED BY DISASTERS- The Secretary may waive the amounts that students are required to return under this section with respect to Federal Pell Grants if the withdrawals on which the returns are based are withdrawals by students--

`(i) who were residing in, employed in, or attending an institution of higher education that is located in an area in which the President has declared that a major disaster exists, in accordance with section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170);

`(ii) whose attendance was interrupted because of the impact of the disaster on the student or the institution; and

`(iii) whose withdrawal ended within the academic year during which the designation occurred or during the next succeeding academic year.'.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.

END