WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today praised President Barack Obama and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan for announcing a new effort to simplify the federal student aid application, called the FAFSA. The Obama administration will be able to implement some of their proposed changes immediately; other proposals would require legislative action. Miller today said that the House will consider these proposals as part of its upcoming efforts to enact student loan reforms that will make college more accessible for American families:
“Confusing paperwork shouldn’t stand between qualified students and a college degree. As families’ needs for college aid continue to grow in this economy, we have to ensure that students and parents can access an easy-to-navigate financial aid process designed to help them get the federal aid they are eligible for. Secretary Duncan has put forth commonsense proposals for streamlining the FAFSA, and Congress will examine how we can build on these steps as we work to make college more affordable by safeguarding and strengthening our federal student aid programs.”
“Confusing paperwork shouldn’t stand between qualified students and a college degree. As families’ needs for college aid continue to grow in this economy, we have to ensure that students and parents can access an easy-to-navigate financial aid process designed to help them get the federal aid they are eligible for. Secretary Duncan has put forth commonsense proposals for streamlining the FAFSA, and Congress will examine how we can build on these steps as we work to make college more affordable by safeguarding and strengthening our federal student aid programs.”
In addition to other steps the Department of Education would take to simplify the FAFSA starting this summer, the Obama administration called on Congress to pass legislation that would dramatically cut down the number of questions on the form by allowing students and families to apply for aid using the information on their tax returns.
The proposals announced today build on steps taken by the 110th Congress to streamline the FAFSA and enable the Department of Education to work with the Internal Revenue Service to eliminative repetitive financial aid questions. That law, the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which Miller was the House author of, included the following provisions:
Streamlines the FAFSA Application Process
The proposals announced today build on steps taken by the 110th Congress to streamline the FAFSA and enable the Department of Education to work with the Internal Revenue Service to eliminative repetitive financial aid questions. That law, the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which Miller was the House author of, included the following provisions:
Streamlines the FAFSA Application Process
- Encourages the U.S. Education Secretary to reduce the number of questions on the FAFSA form over the next five years.
- Simplifies the FAFSA re-application process so that applicant can provide update information in subsequent years, rather than re-filing a new FAFSA form.
- Enables the U.S. Department of Education and the Internal Revenue Service to work together to use information the government already has from applicants’ federal tax forms, such as income and asset information.
- Allows students and families to enter information and receive estimates of their Expected Family Contribution as well as their estimated federal student aid packages in the years before they fill out the FAFSA.
- Creates a two-page “FAFSA-EZ” form for low-income students and families who qualify for the “auto-zero” family contribution.
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