Aid apps might be simpler

While most Pitt students face a slew of deadlines this time of year, one additional but… While most Pitt students face a slew of deadlines this time of year, one additional but vital deadline looms large for the worst procrastinators: the deadline for the notoriously complex application for federal financial aid.

But Congress appears to have heard the cries of its sleepless collegiate constituents and their parents.

On March 20, sponsoring U.S. Reps. George Miller of California and Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, both Democrats, introduced the College Aid Made EZ Act in the House. The bill would simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid from its current five pages to two pages for students from families who make less than $20,000.

Miller and Emanuel argue that the FAFSA’s current complexity deters students from applying for financial aid. Condensing the application, contend the bill’s proponents, will directly provide greater college access to underprivileged students.

“The application process for federal college aid could confuse even tax experts, let alone students and parents. It is ridiculous that major companies can fill out a 13-question form to apply for a million-dollar loan, but students and parents must answer over 100 questions to apply for college financial assistance,” Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said.

Much to the chagrin of many students’ parents, 50 percent of the current FAFSA consists of tax, income and asset information that the Internal Revenue Service already requires on tax forms.

The proposed lower-income application would streamline the process by allowing parents to permit the Department of Education to receive their personal financial records from the IRS.

A press release on Emanuel’s Web site pointed to research that 9 percent of dependent FAFSA applicants who received federal loans and grants during the 2003-04 academic year were from families who made less than $20,000.

The press release buffered this data with a report by the Institute for College Access and Success that estimated that 1.5 million lower-income students did not apply for federal Pell grants in 2004, which are only available through completion of the FAFSA.

According to Betsy Porter, senior administrator for the Financial Aid ‘ Admission office at Pitt, 10,690 undergraduates at Pitt filed FAFSA forms during the 2005-06 academic year – approximately 62 percent of the undergraduate student body.

“The hard part is getting [families] to fill it out the first time. Once they complete it, it’s likely that they will continue [to turn the FAFSA in every year],” Porter said.

The College Aid Made EZ Act also hopes to counteract this problem with attrition. By developing a “pre-FAFSA to allow students and parents to apply for financial aid while students are juniors in high school,” the act aims to connect parents to the federal student aid process ahead of time so that they are better situated to apply for aid once their child begins college.

Porter was primarily upbeat about the bill’s overall promise, but she said that if the process changes extensively, the bill could actually make the aid process more difficult for financial aid offices.

Porter said that “if it takes the Department of Education extra time to get the information back to the Aid office,” then she would not be in favor of the shorter FAFSA.

“If all the information would be available to use in as timely a manner as it is currently, then the shorter application would be useful,” Porter said.

According to Porter, the Financial Aid ‘ Admissions office only verifies the financial data of a small segment of FAFSAs that the federal government specifies. The simpler FAFSA will not even require this verification.

Porter was upbeat about the bill’s overall promise, predicting that more students and their families will decide to apply for federal aid if the FAFSA is simplified.

At the moment, the College Aid Made EZ Act has not been scheduled for debate. Emanuel and Miller introduced the bill previously in the 109th Congress, but the bill was never put to a vote. It has been referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.