Federal grants help colleges build veteran support centers on campus
H.R. 6358 — Veteran Education Empowerment Act · Filed by Lois Frankel (D-FL) · 42 cosponsors · Introduced Dec 2, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill reauthorizes and expands a federal grant program that helps colleges and universities establish and operate Student Veteran Centers—dedicated physical spaces and support services for the roughly 1 million veterans attending higher education each year. Grants of up to $500,000 over 4 years would fund centers offering peer support, benefits counseling, academic tutoring, and mental health resources to help veterans transition from military to civilian student and workforce life.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is straightforward: federal grants to colleges for physical and service infrastructure benefiting student veterans. It is a reauthorization of an existing program (Centers of Excellence for Veteran Student Success) with modest expansion and improved accountability.
What the text implies
- Colleges must demonstrate sustainability plans, shifting long-term funding burden from federal grants to institutional budgets after the 4-year grant period ends—institutions may struggle to maintain centers without ongoing federal support.
- Mental health counseling requirement may expose institutions to liability if counseling is inadequate or if student veterans experience crises; no liability shield or standard-of-care language is included.
- Grant cap of $500,000 over 4 years ($125,000/year) may be insufficient for full-service centers at large institutions with high veteran enrollment, potentially creating unequal service quality across institution sizes.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill directly benefits nearly 1 million veterans annually by funding dedicated support infrastructure addressing documented challenges (isolation, transition difficulty, service-related disabilities). The program is structured with equity safeguards (geographic distribution, rural/urban balance, serving institutions of various sizes) and accountability measures (mandatory reporting, best-practices website, sustainability requirements).
Who stands to gain
- institutions of higher education (grant recipients)
- nonprofit veteran service organizations (potential partners)
Named in the bill
Department of Education, Secretary of Education, institutions of higher education, Student Veterans of America, Student Veteran Centers, Higher Education Act of 1965, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Where it stands
42 cosponsors: 38 Democrats, 4 Republicans.
- Dec 2, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Dec 2, 2025 — 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.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $226,032 in lobbying spend. A filing names 32 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Lois Frankel, the sponsor, reported $555,750 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Assn of Independent Colleges & Universities — $155,000 on 2 filings
- American Council on Education — $71,032 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (11,005 characters) on Sep 28, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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