PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Mar 19, 2012
American Dream Accounts Act of 2012 - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award competitive grants to eligible entities so each can establish and administer American Dream Accounts for a group of at least 30 low-income public school students who, at the time the entities apply for a grant, are attending a grade no higher than ninth grade.
Lists as eligible entities: (1) state educational agencies, (2) local educational agencies, (3) charter schools, (4) institutions of higher education (IHEs), (5) nonprofit organizations, (6) entities experienced in educational savings or assisting low-income students attain higher education, and (7) consortia of two or more of these entities.
Describes an American Dream Account as a personal online account for low-income students that monitors their progress toward higher education and includes a college savings account that provides some tax-preferred accumulation.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Requires American Dream Accounts to provide students with opportunities, either online or in person, to: (1) attain financial literacy; (2) learn about preparing for enrollment in an IHE; and (3) identify their skills or interests, including career interests.
Requires grantees, subject to federal privacy laws and regulations, to allow vested stakeholders to have secure Internet access to an American Dream Account, but not the college savings account portion of that Account.
Prohibits grantees from using their grant to provide the initial deposit into the college savings account portion of a student's American Dream Account.
Prohibits the funds in those college savings accounts from being considered in making federal student financial aid determinations.
People & committees
Rep. Fattah, Chaka [D-PA-2] · D–PA
Legislative record
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Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Mar 23, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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