FAFSA could be simplified

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid that students have to fill out to be considered for federal loans could be seeing some major changes by early 2010.

President Barack Obama announced plans last week to streamline the college aid application making it easier for students, specifically low- and middle-income students.

Diane Fleming, associate director of client services in Scholarships and Financial Aid, said the major changes that could be coming, if Congress approves the plan, include changes to the Pell Grants as well as major changes to navigation of the Web site itself.

“Research shows the most needy students are intimidated by the complexity of it. The drawback of this is that it’s so simple it might not show the true capacity of students true need,” Fleming said.

The outline for the plan includes skip-logic for the application process, which will reduce navigation time by half, as well as work with the Internal Revenue Service so that their tax information will allow easier completion. The plan also includes expanding the Pell Grant as well as give more money to colleges for the Perkins Loan Program, which gives loans to the neediest programs.

Fleming said adding to the Perkins Loan program is a great idea because CMU hasn’t seen money from the program in a while.

“It’s wonderful. CMU has had no money from the program in the last two years,” she said.

Fleming said there are some downsides to the plan, because it may allow some students to gain more money than the might actually need, but she said the money that might not be spent wisely won’t outweigh the money that will help those in need.

Haley Chitty, director of communications for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said there has been discussion of a big change for several years.

“There has been talk about simplifying the FAFSA for a longtime but there has been no momentum in getting it done,” he said.

He said this isn’t going to change everything but it has the chance to really help.

“For target students; low-income background or first generation college students, this could dramatically increase the number of college graduates,” Chitty said. “It’s not going to be the silver bullet but it’s a significant step in the right direction.”

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