Financial Aid Form Gets a Little Easier
The dreaded federal financial aid form will be easier for some families to fill out next year
Applying for financial aid is about to get a little less annoying. The U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday that it would streamline the 109-question, six-page Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
For many years, the FAFSA has been the subject of insults and curses from millions of parents and a bipartisan army of politicians. But it got longer and more complicated over the years as Congress and state officials added questions to qualify students for specific scholarships and as financial aid officials tried to prevent parents from hiding income in order to qualify for aid.
Research shows that the form has become so complex and frustrating that as many as 1 million students are giving up in disgust, thus missing out on financial aid that would help them pay for college. In fact, many of the questions seem silly: After requiring students to enter their date of birth, for example, the 2009 form also asks students whether or not they were born before Jan. 1, 1986. Students also have to answer several repetitive questions about their marital status and the amount of school they've completed.
Repetitive questions will be eliminated from the online version of the form, says Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Starting in January, the Education Department will make it easy for students and parents who use the online version to simply have their IRS tax forms automatically fill in many of the FAFSA questions about adjusted gross income, earnings, and the like, he promises.
Eventually, Duncan hopes to make the form even shorter. He plans to ask Congress for approval to cut out another 26 questions about savings, investments, and assets.
The simplification announcement was greeted with cheers by college financial aid officers, politicians, researchers, and others.
"This is a great first step," says Marcia Weston, director of the YMCA's College Goal Sunday program, which drafts volunteers across the country to help families fill out their FAFSAs on a few Sundays each winter.
But she noted that many disadvantaged students do not have computer access and thus fill out the paper FAFSA, which will not be simplified. Those who need aid the most might still have to suffer through the most annoying form.
In addition, while the federal government has increased the size and number of college grants it will be giving out, many states and foundations are cutting back on aid. So the most frustrating part of applying for aid—not getting any—won't be resolved anytime soon. "There is more demand than there are resources," Weston says.
Reader Comments
If you want the money fill out the form!
The problem isn't that the form was too hard, its that the aid process itself is screwed up. The form before required you to be organized with your expences. Guess what, everyone shound be, but no one keeps track of it. If people would they might need a little less of our countries tax dollars.
Why is the government putting more money into the colleges rather than trying to lower the costs? Tuition has risen twice as much as inflation and the government is just throwing more money at it.
FAFSA is a fraud for the middle working class
Oh yea -- let's make a few changes in the questions and say we've really done something. If you've gone through this process as I did twice, you realize that it's a total waste of time for anyone who's not a minority and has a job. If you have a family income of $75,000 you are expected to be able to cough up $20k a year for college expenses and get no financial aid. (Oh you can still get high interest rate loans who repayment starts immediately -- what a deal!)
Good!
I think it is better and earier for students to apply this financial aid, and it seems to be helpful for students who really need it. Furthermore, it will be better for us if there are also such financial aids for international students too.
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