The bill establishes the Mental Health in Schools Excellence Program: eligible graduate institutions enter agreements with the Secretary of Education to contribute toward a participating student's cost of attendance, and the Secretary may match those contributions up to 50 percent. Agreements must set per‑student contribution limits, caps on the number of participants, and require institutions to prioritize certain students (notably former Pell recipients and attendees of institutions listed in HEA section 371(a)).
This is a targeted workforce‑development vehicle aimed at increasing the supply of school‑based mental health services providers by leveraging institutional funds with federal matching. It creates new administrative obligations for participating colleges, gives the Secretary discretion over eligible fields and program rules, and leaves open key implementation questions—most importantly how matching funds will be provided and measured in practice.
At a Glance
What It Does
The Secretary of Education may enter agreements with eligible graduate institutions under which the institution contributes to a participating student's cost of attendance and the Secretary matches that contribution—up to 50 percent—if the institution commits to a match. Agreements must specify contribution mechanisms, per‑student limits, and maximum numbers of participating students.
Who It Affects
Accredited graduate programs in school psychology, school counseling, and school social work (and other Secretary‑designated school‑based mental health fields); graduate students enrolled in those programs—especially former Pell recipients and students from HEA section 371(a) institutions; K‑12 school systems that hire these providers; and the Department of Education, which must administer and publish program agreements.
Why It Matters
The measure uses federal dollars to leverage institutional resources to expand the pipeline of school‑based mental health providers—an area with recognized shortages. It sets a precedent for federal matching to build education‑sector workforce capacity, while putting program design and eligibility largely under Secretary discretion.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The Mental Health in Schools Excellence Program creates a simple public‑private matching structure to reduce graduate students' net costs in school‑based mental health fields. A college or university that wants to participate must sign an agreement with the Secretary of Education.
That agreement lays out how the institution will provide financial support to students (scholarship, grant, tuition waiver, or other means), the maximum it will pay per student in an academic year, and the total number of students it will support. If the institution commits to a match under that agreement, the Secretary may contribute up to half of a participating student's cost of attendance.
The bill requires the Department to post and periodically update an online list of participating graduate institutions and the key terms of their agreements, so students and employers can see where program slots exist. The Secretary must also conduct outreach targeted at students who, as undergraduates, received Pell Grants or attended institutions referenced in HEA section 371(a).
These outreach and transparency requirements aim to direct benefits toward lower‑income students and certain institution cohorts.Eligibility is narrowly tied to training that leads to licensure or certification as school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, or other school‑based mental health roles the Secretary designates. The statute borrows HEA definitions for institutions and cost of attendance, and it expressly excludes institutions listed in HEA section 102(a)(1)(C).
The bill does not create a statutory service obligation for recipients, nor does it contain specific appropriation language; the Secretary 'may' provide matching contributions contingent on matching commitments from institutions.Operationally, participating institutions will need to set selection priorities (with statutory direction to prioritize certain students), track expenditures against per‑student and per‑year caps, and coordinate with the Department for public reporting. The Secretary retains flexibility to determine what counts as an eligible school‑based mental health field beyond the named disciplines, which gives the Department room to adapt the program but also creates potential variability in how broadly the program can be applied across different graduate offerings.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The Secretary may contribute up to 50% of a participating student's cost of attendance, but only when the eligible graduate institution agrees to match the Secretary’s contribution.
Each Secretary‑institution agreement must specify how the institution will contribute (scholarship, grant, waiver, etc.), a per‑student maximum contribution for an academic year, and a cap on the number of supported individuals per year.
The Department of Education must publish and periodically update an online list of participating eligible graduate institutions and the relevant agreement information for each.
The program requires institutions to prioritize participating students who, as undergraduates, received a Federal Pell Grant or attended an institution listed in HEA section 371(a).
Eligible graduate institutions are limited to accredited programs that prepare students for state licensure or certification in school psychology, school counseling, school social work, or other Secretary‑designated school‑based mental health fields.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title
Names the statute the "Mental Health in Schools Excellence Program Act of 2025." This is purely formal but signals Congress's intent to create a focused program for school‑based mental health workforce development.
Program authorized and named
Authorizes the Secretary of Education to carry out a program under which eligible graduate institutions enter agreements to contribute to participating students' cost of attendance, with federal matching. The program is formally designated the Mental Health in Schools Excellence Program, which centralizes administration at ED rather than at a discretionary grant office.
Agreement terms between Secretary and institutions
Requires each participating institution to sign an agreement that details the manner of institutional contribution (direct grant, scholarship, etc.), per‑student maximums, and an annual cap on the number of participants. The agreement must also commit the school to prioritize certain students and may include other terms the Secretary and institution deem appropriate. Practically, this creates a contractual framework ED will use to allocate matching dollars and to hold institutions to stated contribution levels.
Transparency and targeted outreach
Mandates that ED publish a periodically updated list on its website of participating eligible graduate institutions and relevant agreement information. It also requires the Department to conduct outreach to potential participants who were Pell recipients as undergraduates or who attended institutions cited in HEA section 371(a). These provisions aim to steer program benefits to lower‑income students and specified institutional cohorts and provide market visibility into where program slots and funding exist.
Matching contributions
Authorizes the Secretary to provide a contribution of up to 50% of a participating student's cost of attendance if the eligible graduate institution agrees to match. The statutory language makes the federal contribution conditional on an institutional match and caps the federal share at 50%, but it does not appropriate funds or detail award prioritization beyond the institutional agreement terms.
Definitions and eligibility
Defines key terms: cost of attendance (by HEA reference), participating student, and eligible graduate institution. Eligible institutions are those offering accredited programs that prepare students for state licensure or certification in school counseling, school psychology, school social work, or other Secretary‑designated school‑based mental health fields; HEA section references set the outer bounds of institutional eligibility and explicitly exclude institutions described in HEA section 102(a)(1)(C). These definitions drive which programs can participate and what training counts.
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Explore Education in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Graduate students in eligible programs—They receive reduced net cost of attendance when their institution participates and matches, lowering financial barriers to entering school‑based mental health careers.
- Former Pell recipients and alumni of HEA section 371(a) institutions—The program requires outreach and prioritization for these cohorts, increasing their visibility for subsidized slots.
- K‑12 districts and students—Expanding the pipeline of credentialed school counselors, social workers, and psychologists should increase hiring pools for school systems that struggle to fill these roles.
- Participating eligible graduate institutions—They gain a federal match that can enhance recruitment packages and potentially boost enrollment in targeted programs without fully internalizing the full tuition subsidy.
Who Bears the Cost
- Eligible graduate institutions—They must provide matching contributions, set aside funds for per‑student caps, and manage administrative compliance with Secretary agreements, which may strain smaller programs' budgets.
- Department of Education—ED must administer agreements, maintain the public list and outreach, and oversee compliance; these tasks require staffing and systems that the bill does not separately fund.
- Federal budget/taxpayers—If the Secretary actually provides matching funds, those outlays will require appropriations or reallocation of existing ED dollars, creating a fiscal footprint that Congress must resolve.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill balances two legitimate goals—using limited federal resources to leverage institutional money and rapidly expand the pipeline of school‑based mental health providers—against important equity and accountability questions: matching favors better‑resourced institutions and the absence of service conditions leaves uncertain whether increased training will meet the needs of high‑need schools.
The statute creates authority but leaves several implementation levers unspecified. It authorizes the Secretary to provide matching contributions 'up to' 50 percent but does not include appropriation language or a formula for allocating limited federal funds among interested institutions.
That means actual program size and per‑student federal support will depend on later appropriation decisions and ED rulemaking. The requirement that institutions match federal contributions privileges programs with existing discretionary resources; wealthier graduate schools can leverage federal funds more easily than cash‑constrained programs, which risks concentrating benefits where institutional capacity already exists.
The bill also grants the Secretary significant discretion: to determine what constitutes other 'school‑based mental health' fields and to negotiate 'other matters' in agreements. That flexibility helps tailor the program to evolving workforce needs but also creates a risk of uneven eligibility standards across institutions and states.
Notably, the statute contains no service or placement requirement tying the subsidy to subsequent employment in high‑need schools, so increases in training do not automatically translate into improved provider coverage in the districts with the greatest shortages. Finally, the design creates a potential substitution problem: institutions might rebrand or reallocate existing scholarships to qualify for the federal match without materially increasing total support for students or program capacity.
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