[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 112 (Friday, July 25, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                FINANCIAL AID SIMPLIFICATION ACT OF 2003

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RAHM EMANUEL

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 25, 2003

  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, today, along with Congressman Buck McKeon 
and 13 additional bipartisan cosponsors, I introduced the Financial Aid 
Simplification Act of 2003. This bill stands to make applying for 
financial aid significantly easier for students and families.
  The process of applying for the Pell Grant and other student 
financial aid is unnecessarily complicated. The Free Application for 
Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a one hundred-plus question, extremely 
complicated form that creates an unnecessary barrier to students 
applying for aid.
  The bill directs the Advisory Committee on Student Financial 
Assistance, which provides advice and counsel to Congress and the 
Secretary of Education on student financial aid matters, to conduct a 
thorough study, within two years, of how to streamline the aid process 
and make it easier for students. Within one year after the study is 
completed, the Secretary of Education must implement the recommended 
changes.
  The Committee's goals will include significantly reducing the number 
of questions on the FAFSA, simplifying the language used on the form 
itself, revising the needs analysis formula to reduce the 
administrative burden for students, higher education institutions, and 
the federal government, and allowing certain students to be fast-
tracked through the application process when they have already provided 
financial information to the federal government by qualifying for other 
forms of federal financial assistance.
  In addition, Mr. Speaker, the Financial Aid Simplification Act of 
2003 requires the Secretary of Education to make special efforts to 
notify students who qualify for free lunch or food stamps of their 
eligibility for the maximum Pell Grant. This bill will go a long way to 
help American families gain access to higher education. I strongly 
encourage my colleagues to support this important legislation.

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