H 32°, L 7° | Tomorrow: 
H 17°, L 4°
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.”
IP hash: c3917d8f
I’m sorry, I know this administration is trying to spend as much of the tax payer’s money as possible to “spread the wealth,” but if people can’t figure out a simple application form, maybe they shouldn’t be going to college in the first place. I hear the application to McDonalds is pretty easy.
IP hash: 84c4a170
Wow that’s the dumbest response I’ve ever heard, you must not know the requirements of filling out a fasfa form. Maybe before you insult you should do your research. There’s a lot of complications that keep many people from applying such as, a student that’s 24 years old or younger is considered a dependent even if he/she doesn’t live with his/her parents and support their selves. In that case many parents refuse to give up their information for their children. Due to personal reasons or they can’t. Therefore these students who don’t have their parent’s information can’t even file for financial aid. I have a friend who doesn’t speak to her father at all and her mother died, and her father refused to give her his info. because their not close, and she got denied. There’s also many more examples, so lets not be arrogant.
IP hash: 9816bf6e
You know this is funny to me because I do consider myself an intelligent person and I had a really hard time with this form. I am young (mid 20s) but my father passed away and I earned inheritance and property after his passing. I HAD NO CLUE how to add this onto the form. As an undergrad it was super easy because I had little income and no assets. I paid to have my taxes filed by a professional this year because of these same reasons and she referred me to a company that offers financial aid advising for the form. I paid like $50 but they did it all for me. I don’t know. The form isn’t hard for everyone but when your financial situation is detailed it CAN get complicated. Revising this form would be a really good idea.
IP hash: 9816bf6e
Oh and in case anyone cares the company I used is www.fafsausa.com and even if you don’t want to use the paid services they do have a lot of helpful info so you try and do it yourself.