Current and prospective college students daunted by the task of filling out the Free Application for Federal Financial Aid could face fewer hassles next April if federal officials approve a plan to condense the lengthy form.
In an effort to entice more students to apply for available financial aid, Congress introduced the College Aid Made EZ Act last week to simplify the process of applying for financial aid. The act calls for time-saving steps such as trimming the FAFSA form from five to three pages and allowing students to apply as high school juniors instead of having to wait until their senior year.
The current FAFSA form features more than 100 questions, which is longer than mortgage applications for homeowners or loan applications for major companies, according to Rachel Racusen, spokeswoman for House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.), who co-sponsored the bill.
“There’s just no question it’s overly complicated and complex,” she said. “Multi-billion dollar corporations fill out 13-question forms to receive million-dollar export-import bank loans. Shouldn’t it be just as easy for high school seniors and their families to pay for college?”
In an effort to also ease the workload for students’ parents, the bill will encourage the Internal Revenue Service to forward families’ financial information directly to financial aid administrators instead of forcing applicants to copy and send the information themselves.
“It streamlines the process and eliminates duplicative questions,” Racusen said.
Although the bill encourages cutting redundancies, the bill does not outline specifics for how the coordination with the IRS would work, Racusen said.
Rep. Howard McKeon (R-Calif.) — who worked on a similar proposal with Miller and bill co-sponsor Rahm Emmanuel (D-Ill.) that failed in the last Congress — said the bill’s key weakness is unclear direction.
“It orders the Department of Education to reduce the number of questions without providing guidance as to how do this,” McKeon spokesman Steve Forde said. “The concept is great, but whether it’s realistic is debatable.”
Forde said students should not be discouraged from applying for financial aid because they are wary of filling out the application, and he said shortening the form is “something we can all rally around.”
In Boston University’s freshman class this year, 2,474 of 4,124 freshman applied for financial aid, according to the College Board website.
Department of Education spokesman Chad Colby would not comment on the specifics of the bill but said the department supports simplifying the financial-aid form. Colby added the department recently introduced the FAFSA Forecaster, an online tool that allows families to calculate potential financial aid awards.
The tool also encourages families to plan for college during high school because the online form is convenient, Colby said.
“[Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings] has already made the commitment that the financial process needs to be simpler,” Colby said, adding the Forecaster is a key element in “getting students and parents comfortable with using the FAFSA.”
College Board senior policy analyst Sandy Baum said online tools are helpful, but maintained that reducing the FAFSA’s length should be a priority.
“It’s been clear it would be better to have a simpler process,” she said.