Educational Opportunity and Success Act of 2025

Increased Grant Funding: The bill increases minimum grant amounts, raising them from $200,000 to $220,000 and $170,000 to $190,000 (Section 2(a)).

Fairer Application Process: The bill changes the criteria for awarding grants from "prior experience" to "prior success in achieving high quality service delivery" (Section 2(b)(1)).

Protection Against Technical Rejections: The Secretary is prohibited from rejecting applications based on noncompliance with voluntary page limits or formatting standards (Section 2(b)(2)(B)(i)).

Opportunity to Fix Budget Errors: Applicants can now correct typographical or rounding errors in proposed budgets after receiving notice via email or phone (Section 2(b)(2)(B)(ii)).

Establishment of a Review Process: Applicants can request a review if they have evidence of a technical, administrative, or scoring error made by the Department or a peer reviewer (Section 2(b)(2)(C)).

Access to Technical Assistance: The Secretary is required to host at least one virtual, interactive training session to provide technical assistance to interested applicants (Section 2(c)).

Expanded Definition of Low-Income: The definition of a "low-income individual" is expanded to include students determined to be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant or those attending specific schools (Section 2(d) and Section 2(g)).

Increased Support for Veterans: For Upward Bound projects specifically designed for veterans, adults may be paid stipends up to $100 per month (Section 3).

Expanded Opportunities for Postbaccalaureate Students: The bill expands opportunities by allowing for faculty-led research experiences alongside internships (Section 4).

Increased Criteria for Success: By changing "prior experience" to "prior success in achieving high quality service delivery," the standards for receiving grants are modified (Section 2(b)(1)).

Mandatory Adjustments to Outcome Criteria: The bill introduces specific new requirements for what must be included in outcome criteria, such as specific years of mathematics, science, and foreign language (Section 2(e)).