Financial aid changes would simplify process

The House of Representatives passed the amendments Feb. 7.

By Jake Carah

Published Feb. 19, 2008

An amendment to the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 will simplify the financial aid application process.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid would be reformed to streamline the process and create an easy-to-navigate, two-page form for low-income families.

The amendment would encourage the U.S. Department of Education to coordinate with the Internal Revenue Service to use information the government already collects.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the amendments Feb. 7. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, proposed the amendment.

“This is the time of year when millions of families all around the country are working with their high school seniors,” Doggett said in remarks to the House. “The college applications are in, but now it’s time to try and figure out how to pay for college and higher education.”

Doggett called the process of completing FAFSA forms daunting.

“The FAFSA as it is now is 11 pages long and is over 100 questions in length, including 3 additional worksheets,” Doggett said in his remarks.

The reforms allow the IRS, with parental consent, to provide the Department of Education with financial information needed to apply for the FAFSA.

The FAFSA application is not involved with the admission process.

“Admissions really does not deal with the FAFSA, but financial aid offices deal with them all the time,” MU Admissions Director Barbara Rupp said in an e-mail.

MU Financial Aid Director Joe Camille said he supports the reforms.

He said the reforms have been discussed for years among people familiar with financial aid.

“The first year that parents send a student to college, it looks rather daunting,” Camille said. “You have to get all your financial records together, which is mainly the parents’ income tax record and the students’ income tax record.”

Camille said though the application can be daunting the first time, “after that it seems to go pretty well for them.”

The two amendments have to pass the U.S. Senate. Congress has reformed the act every few years.

The last such reform expired in 2003.

Camille said an Institute for College Access and Success report supports the claim that about a third of the questions on the FAFSA could be eliminated.

“If we could only get government bureaucracies to communicate with one another, that’s really what this amendment is all about,” Camille said.