(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-09) has passed an amendment to H.R. 3136, the ‘Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project. Grayson’s amendment intends to streamline the application process for federal student financial aid and reduce excessive paperwork.
The amendment directs the Secretary of Education to conduct a study on the feasibility of using individual income tax returns as the primary form of application for federal student financial aid.
In order to determine their eligibility for federal financial aid under current law, students must first complete a lengthy application known as the FAFSA form. The information required by FAFSA, however, is already available in students’ and parents’ individual tax returns that are filed annually. Recently, an ‘IRS Data Retrieval Tool’ was built into FAFSA in order to reduce the amount of time spent completing the form.
Grayson said he wants to take that feature a step further.
“There’s just no reason for students to be required to submit two exhaustive overviews of their financial situation to the federal government every year,” Grayson explained in a speech on the House Floor. “It’s duplicative and unnecessary. Individual tax returns provide a complete picture of students’ and parents’ financial situations. Why should they also be forced to fill out a secondary, onerous financial aid form to the Department of Education? I support any effort to streamline the financial aid application process for students. This amendment ensures that we have all of the information necessary to accomplish that goal.”
Grayson’s amendment passed the House of Representatives unanimously, on a voice vote.
Congressman Alan Grayson represents Florida’s 9th Congressional District, which includes Osceola County, as well as parts of Orange and Polk counties. He previously served as the U.S. Representative for Florida's 8th Congressional District in the 111th Congress.
