S. 880 119th Congress Senate

Fair College Admissions for Students Act

Official title: A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit institutions of higher education participating in Federal student assistance programs from giving … Show full official titleShow less

Official title: A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit institutions of higher education participating in Federal student assistance programs from giving preferential treatment in the admissions process to legacy students or donors.

Introduced: March 6, 2025 Introduced by: Jeff Merkley Democratic · Oregon See on congress.gov

Education Government lending and loan guaranteesHigher educationSchool administrationStudent aid and college costs

Everywhere this bill has been 3 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Mar 19, 2026

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.

Mar 6, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Mar 6, 2025

Introduced in Senate

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What's happening now March 19, 2026

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Fair College Admissions for Students Act

This bill prohibits an institution of higher education (IHE) that participates in federal student aid programs from giving preferential treatment in the admissions process to applicants based on their relationships to donors or alumni of the IHE.

Hearings & markups 1

Member Day to examine S.297, to amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to require group health plans and he…
Meeting Mar 19, 2026 · 10:00 AM EDT · Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee

Related & companion bills 1

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
Senate

Lobbying activity 3

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION
for AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter 2026 (Apr 1 - June 30)
AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION
for AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION · District of Columbia · 1st Quarter 2026 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)
ALLIANCE FOR EXCELLENT EDUCATION
for ALLIANCE FOR EXCELLENT EDUCATION · District of Columbia · 1st Quarter 2025 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)

Bodies those filers lobbied

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
3 filings
SENATE
3 filings

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

Cosponsors 2

Kennedy, John

Louisiana · Mar 6, 2025

Padilla, Alex

California · Mar 6, 2025

Cite this page click to expand

APA

U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 880: Fair College Admissions for Students Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-880/

MLA

"S. 880: Fair College Admissions for Students Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-880/.

Bluebook (legal)

S. 880, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-880/.

Markdown link

[S. 880: Fair College Admissions for Students Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-880/)