Students will soon have an easier time applying for financial aid after several changes were implemented in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid for the 2010-11 academic year.

Most of the changes aim to make the online version of the application more user-friendly, as both the paper and electronic version will include fewer questions for students, according to a press release by the United States Department of Education.

With the new FAFSA changes, low-income students will no longer be asked for asset information. Additionally, only returning students will be asked about drug convictions, as the question does not apply to first-year students. And, Also, students who have had the same address for five or more years will not be asked about their date and state of legal residency.

To make the online application more user-friendly, new tabs plainly designate parent and student parts of the application. Help text and instructions, which took up a lot of screen space in the 2009-10 application, now have the option to disappear when not in use.

Another feature that makes the online application easier to complete is the use of “step logic” in the FAFSA questions. Jake Stillwell, spokesperson of the United States Students Association, said the new system uses previous answers to skip over questions that become unnecessary for certain applicants.

Stillwell said while the application has become more simplified and personalized, it can still be tailored to fit a student’s specific financial needs.

“The questions can get very complex and it can be a deterrent to filling it out. A lot of the FAFSA currently is rather archaic and unnecessary. It’s a barrier to low income students to getting financial aid for college,” Stillwell said.

Susan Fischer, director of financial aid at the University of Wisconsin, said the application has a reputation of being difficult to complete. She added the office will be able to handle an influx of applications if more students file the FAFSA this year.

“The paper version of FAFSA could still be a nightmare,” Fischer said. “We would welcome more applications. We really want current students to get their reward.”

Stillwell said the process to make financial aid more available to students has been ongoing and more improvements to the FAFSA are expected next year.

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act passed the House of Representatives in September of 2009 but has yet to pass through the Senate.

According to records from the U.S. Department of Education, the proposed legislation would look to eliminate “most asset information from the needs analysis equation.” If these changes were passed, students would only have to use information found on their tax returns to file for aid.

The simplifications in the act would come on top of the changes already made this academic year, Stillwell said.

“We’re hopeful it’ll be passed in the next couple of months. We’re pushing for them to consider federal financial aid next [after healthcare],” Stillwell said. “President Obama already said he’ll sign, and the Senate is the last obstacle.”