Bill pays full tuition for descendants of enslaved people at Black colleges
H.R. 10043 — Heritage Legacy Act · Filed by Frederica Wilson (D-FL) · Introduced Aug 3, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill directs the Department of Education to give money to HBCUs. The money pays full tuition for students who prove descent from enslaved Americans. Students can get up to 12 semesters of tuition paid. These scholarships do not reduce other federal aid.
Who it affects
Students who are descendants of enslaved Americans and attend HBCUs get free tuition. HBCUs receive grant money to give out as scholarships.
One thing to notice
The bill requires students to prove descent using old records. Some records may be lost or hard to find.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Aug 3, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Aug 3, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- descendants — People whose family members came before them.
- federal aid — Money the government gives to help pay for school.
- tuition — Money students pay to go to school.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,812 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
“Bill pays full tuition for descendants of enslaved people at Black colleges” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr10043/simple Report an error