H.R. 494

Congressional Research Service summary, version: Introduced in House (Jan 16, 2025)

This bill makes certain changes to the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program, including increasing available scholarship amounts to cover up to five years of eligible tuition.

The program offers scholarships to students pursuing higher education in cybersecurity and related fields, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and aerospace. Under current law, the scholarship covers up to three years of tuition. Recipients must generally commit to work in cybersecurity for a government agency or institution of higher education following completion of their degree program for a period equivalent to the duration of the scholarship. If a recipient fails to fulfill the postgraduation work requirements, some or all of the scholarship must be repaid or treated as a loan.

The bill also provides statutory authority for the National Science Foundation to treat as a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan the full amount of any scholarship award that is treated as a loan. Under current law, Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans are subject to certain conditions (e.g., interest rates and repayment schedules) and are eligible for student loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.