[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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