[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1872 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1872

 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 zero expected family contribution, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 27, 2015

  Mr. Booker (for himself, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Franken, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. 
 Schumer, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Tester, Mr. Markey, Mr. Murphy, 
 Mr. Schatz, and Mr. Merkley) introduced the following bill; which was 
 read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
                              and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 zero expected family contribution, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Simplifying Financial Aid for 
Students Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. USING DATA FOR SECOND PRECEDING YEAR.

    Section 480(a)(1)(B) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1087vv(a)(1)(B)) is amended to read as follows:
                    ``(B) Notwithstanding section 478(a) and beginning 
                not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
                the Simplifying Financial Aid for Students Act of 2015, 
                the Secretary shall provide for the use of data from 
                the second preceding tax year when and to the extent 
                necessary to carry out the simplification of 
                applications (including simplification for a subset of 
                applications) used for the estimation and determination 
                of financial aid eligibility. Such simplification shall 
                include the sharing of data between the Internal 
                Revenue Service and the Department, pursuant to the 
                consent of the taxpayer.''.

SEC. 3. ZERO EXPECTED FAMILY CONTRIBUTION.

    Section 479(c) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1087ss(c)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ``$23,000'' and 
        inserting ``$30,000''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ``$23,000'' and 
        inserting ``$30,000''.
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