In a national address Tuesday, President Barack Obama called for the simplification of a financial aid application in conjunction with the United States Department of Education.
The decision to simplify the Free Application of Federal Student Aid came from the president and the Department of Education’s goal of encouraging the maximum amount of students to receive some degree of upper-level education.
“Never has a college degree been more important. And never has it been more expensive,” Obama said, according to a White House statement. “[We] will simplify federal college assistance forms so it doesn’t take a Ph.D. to apply for financial aid.”
The Department of Education is looking to specifically simplify the FAFSA by reducing the number of data elements asked for on the application and using information previously collected by the Internal Revenue Service, such as income, according to Department of Education public affairs specialist Jane Glickman.
Glickman added both approaches are in the process of being discussed and reviewed by the Treasury Department.
“(It is important) to make sure that everyone has access to getting student financial aid from the federal government and they aren’t turned off by the complexity of it,” Glickman said. “It’s very important that people know there’s federal aid available to help people get a higher education and we want to do everything we can to make it simpler and provide more access.”
Though Glickman said simplifying the form is important, the department must be careful not to oversimplify the process.
“Fewer data elements could result in people appearing low-income based on a simple [adjusted gross income] … [which could] result in the aid not being targeted to the low-income people we’re trying to reach,” Glickman said.
According to Susan Fischer, director of the University of Wisconsin Office of Student Financial Services, the process is still several years from being complete.
Fischer added UW is doing whatever it can to help students get financial aid and make the process as convenient as possible.
“It’s going to require congressional action,” Fischer said. “We’ve done as much as we can to make it simpler on people, but a lot of it is driven by the department of upper education.”
Though the university cannot predict how many UW students will apply for financial aid due to the current economic climate, she thinks the simplification process is a good step in encouraging students to apply for or stay in school.
Glickman added the Department of Education still needs to address several issues with the simplification of FAFSA.
According to Glickman, not all low-income individuals file for tax returns. Therefore, the department needs to develop another system of data collection aside from the previously acquired IRS data.
“There are also timing issues in terms of when the IRS has data available,” Glickman said. “We are also aware that Congress has asked GAO (Government Accountability Office) to review the option.”
