# Mental Health in Schools Excellence Program Act of 2021

This bill creates a new federal program designed to help more mental health professionals work in schools by making graduate school more affordable for people training to become school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers. Right now, many schools struggle to hire enough mental health staff, partly because these graduate programs are expensive and many people can't afford them. This bill tries to fix that problem by having the federal government and graduate schools split the cost of tuition for students who commit to these fields.

Here's how it would work in practice: If you're a graduate student studying to become a school counselor or psychologist, you could apply through a participating graduate program. The federal government would agree to pay up to half of your cost of attendance (tuition, fees, room and board, and other education expenses), and your graduate school would match that contribution dollar-for-dollar. So if your total costs are $40,000 a year, the government might cover $10,000 and your school would cover $10,000, leaving you responsible for less. The program specifically targets students from lower-income backgrounds—those who received Pell Grants as undergraduates or attended historically underrepresented colleges—to make sure the help reaches people who need it most.

The bill doesn't require any service commitment in exchange for the aid, meaning you wouldn't be obligated to work in schools for a certain number of years after graduation. It simply aims to make these training programs more accessible so more qualified professionals enter the field and schools can actually hire them. The Department of Education would maintain a public list of participating graduate programs so students know where they can access this funding.

Mental Health in Schools Excellence Program Act of 2021

Fitzpatrick, Brian K.

Mental Health in Schools Excellence Program Act of 2021 This bill establishes a program to expand the mental health services workforce in schools. Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Education to contract with graduate institutions to pay a share of the cost of attendance for graduate students pursuing careers in the school-based mental health profession (e.g., school counseling).