College aid and housing help for homeless and foster youth
S. 5146 — Higher Education Access and Success for Homeless and Foster Youth Act of 2026 · Filed by Patty Murray (D-WA) · Introduced Jul 28, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill changes college rules to help homeless and foster youth go to college. Colleges must hire staff to help these students with money and housing. These students can pay in-state tuition rates even if they live out of state. Colleges must give them housing first. Colleges must add them to federal mentoring and tutoring programs. Colleges must track how many of these students finish college. Colleges must tell Congress the facts.
Who it affects
Homeless and foster youth who want to go to college are helped. Colleges must follow new rules about housing, tuition, and staff support.
One thing to notice
The bill requires colleges to do new work and spend money. It does not say who pays for it.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 28, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 28, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- in-state tuition — The lower price for college that students pay if they live in that state
- mentoring and tutoring programs — Federal programs that help students learn and get ready for college
- staff — People who work at colleges to help students
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (17,592 characters) on Aug 6, 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.
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