[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 72 (Thursday, May 2, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2603-S2604]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 FAFSA

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of 
my opening statement at the Senate Health Education, Labor, and 
Pensions Committee be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                      FAFSA Simplification Hearing

       Mr. ALEXANDER. There are not many things that United States 
     senators can do to cause 20 million American families to say, 
     ``thank you.''
       After five years of work, we are ready to do just that by 
     reducing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid--the 
     FAFSA--from 108 questions to two dozen, and eliminate the 
     need for families to give their financial information to the 
     federal government twice.
       This will help 400,000 families in Tennessee, 350,000 
     families in Senator Murray's Washington State, and millions 
     more for each of us who have it in our hands to finish our 
     work on simplifying the FAFSA.
       A volunteer mentor with Tennessee Promise, which is our 
     state's program that provides two years of free community 
     college, told me that the FAFSA--the form that 20 million 
     families fill out each year to apply for federal student 
     aid--has a ``chilling effect'' on students and on parents.
       The former president of Southwest Tennessee Community 
     College in Memphis told me he believes that he loses 1,500 
     students each semester because the FAFSA is too complicated.
       East Tennessee State University said a third of their 
     applicants--approximately 10,000--are selected each year for 
     verification--a complicated process that stops Pell Grant 
     payments while a student and their family scrambles to submit 
     their federal tax information or prove they did not have to 
     file taxes.
       Former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam told me that 
     Tennessee has the highest rate of filling out the FAFSA, but 
     it is still the single biggest impediment to more students 
     enrolling in Tennessee Promise.
       And one of the questions I hear most from students is, can 
     you please make it simpler to apply for federal aid?
       Five years ago at a hearing before this Committee we heard 
     that the vast majority of questions on the FAFSA are 
     unnecessary.
       I asked if the four witnesses could each write a letter to 
     the Committee recommending how they would simplify the FAFSA.

[[Page S2604]]

       The witnesses looked at each other and said, we don't have 
     to write you four letters--we can write you one letter 
     because we agree.
       And Senator Bennet, who was on the Committee at the time, 
     said, if that's true, and if there's that much agreement, why 
     don't we do what you recommend?
       So we started talking with other Senators, students, 
     college administrators, and other experts about how to 
     simplify the FAFSA.
       Simplifying the FAFSA started gaining traction.
       First, the Obama Administration allowed families to fill 
     out the FAFSA using their tax information from the previous 
     year so they could apply to school in the fall, rather than 
     having to wait until spring.
       Second, the Trump Administration has put the FAFSA 
     application on a phone app. I was at Sevier County High 
     School in November and saw students zipping through the FAFSA 
     on their iPhones.
       Third, last year the Senate passed legislation Senator 
     Murray and I introduced that allows students to answer up to 
     22 questions on the FAFSA with just one click and will stop 
     requiring students to give the same information to the 
     federal government twice. We are working with the House to 
     see if we can make that a law this year.
       The final step should be our bipartisan solution that will 
     reduce the number of questions on the FAFSA from 108 to 15-25 
     questions.
       In 2015, Senator Bennet and I, along with Senators Booker, 
     Burr, King, Enzi, Warner, and Isakson, introduced bipartisan 
     legislation that would have reduced the number of FAFSA 
     questions to two. But after discussions with college 
     administrators and states, we realized we needed to keep some 
     questions or states and schools would have to create their 
     own additional forms that students would need to fill out.
       Over the last four years, we have improved that legislation 
     and now believe we can move forward with bipartisan 
     legislation that would reduce the FAFSA to 15-25 questions.
       Here is what all of these improvements mean to the 20 
     million families that fill out the FAFSA every year:
       One: Reduce the 108 questions to 15-25.
       Two: Dramatically decrease the number of students selected 
     for verification, because students' tax data would 
     automatically transfer to the Department of Education which 
     would greatly reduce the need for verification.
       Three: Simplifying the form and the verification process 
     should encourage more students to apply for federal aid, 
     which will ensure that eligible students receive the Pell 
     they deserve.
       Four: Students can now complete the FAFSA on their iPhone.
       Five: Families can now apply for federal student aid sooner 
     because they can use information from their last year's tax 
     return; and
       Six: Students can find out as early as eighth grade how 
     much Pell grant funding they may be eligible for.
       And seven: there is a $6 billion advantage to taxpayers--
     that is the amount the Department of Education estimates is 
     issued in improper payments every year
       These are seven huge advantages and are the result of five 
     years of hearings and work by senators, and work by both the 
     Obama and Trump Administrations. Bipartisan discussions have 
     produced a lot of agreement on simplifying the number of 
     questions, so the purpose of this hearing is to learn what we 
     need to know before taking the final step.
       I also hear from students--can you make repaying student 
     loans simpler?
       A large number of Republican and Democrat senators have 
     suggested streamlining the nine ways to repay student loans, 
     including Senators Warner, King, Rubio, Merkley, Burr and 
     Baldwin.
       I have proposed having just two ways to repay student 
     loans:
       One, a plan based on a borrower's income, which would never 
     require the borrower to make payments of more than ten 
     percent of his or her discretionary income. If a borrower 
     wanted to pay off their loan, the other option would be a 10-
     year payment plan, with equal monthly payments, similar to a 
     10-year mortgage. And under both options, a borrower's 
     payment would come directly from their paycheck.
       This proposal would make it easier for more than 9 million 
     borrowers annually, and any of the current 42 million 
     borrowers with outstanding federal loan debt, to take 
     advantage of a simpler and more affordable way to repay their 
     loans.
       And from administrators I hear--can't you do something 
     about the administrative burden that wastes time and money 
     that could instead be spent on students?
       To help administrators overwhelmed by what the Kirwan-
     Zeppos report called ``a jungle of red tape,'' I am proposing 
     we simplify federal regulations that take time and money away 
     from educating students.
       There are other steps this Committee is considering to make 
     college worth students' time and money, but we also have the 
     opportunity to greatly simplify the ``chilling effect'' 
     applying for federal aid has on students today.

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