A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary to provide for the use of data from the second preceding tax year to carry out the simplification of applications for the estimation and determination of financial aid eligibility, to increase the income threshold to qualify for a student aid index equal to or less than zero, and for other purposes.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · May 7, 2019
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Simplifying Financial Aid for Students Act of 2019
This bill revises the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process and modifies federal student aid eligibility for certain students.
Among other things, the bill revises FAFSA to
remove certain questions such as those regarding a student's criminal history, Selective Service registration, and combat pay information; make it available to complete on a mobile device; consolidate questions regarding a student's homeless status; allow a student to automatically populate such form using data available from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); provide forms in the most common languages spoken at home in the United States; and allow a student to complete FAFSA as an independent student under special circumstances. The bill also modifies the student eligibility criteria for federal student financial aid to
deem a student eligible for a determination of a zero expected family contribution under certain circumstances, such as when a dependent student's parent participated in a means-tested benefits program (e.g., the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Medicaid); revise the simplified needs-analysis formula; remove drug conviction and Selective Service registration provisions; and make Dreamer students (i.e., students who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status) eligible for federal financial aid. Additionally, the IRS must disclose certain tax return information to the Department of Education (ED) for the purpose of administering financial aid and loan programs.
The bill also authorizes ED to carry out an early federal Pell Grant commitment program.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.