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Union Calendar No. 526 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5528 

[Report No. 114–678] 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to simplify the FAFSA, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 20, 2016 

Mr. HECK of Nevada (for himself, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. POLIS, and Mr. 

POCAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

JULY 11, 2016 

Additional sponsors: Mr. CURBELO of Florida, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. KLINE, Mr. 

THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. COURTNEY, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. 

ADAMS, Ms. WILSON of Florida, and Mrs. DAVIS of California 

JULY 11, 2016 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 20, 2016] 


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•HR 5528 RH

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to simplify 

the FAFSA, and for other purposes. 


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•HR 5528 RH

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Simplifying the Appli5 cation for Student Aid Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. USING DATA FROM SECOND PRECEDING YEAR. 

7 Section 480(a)(1)(B) of the Higher Education Act of 

8 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087vv(a)(1)(B)) is amended by striking 

9 ‘‘may’’ in both places it appears and inserting ‘‘shall’’. 

10 SEC. 3. CALCULATION OF ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT PERCENT11 AGE FOR FEDERAL PELL GRANTS. 

12 Section 401(b)(7)(C)(iv)(I) of the Higher Education 

13 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a(b)(7)(C)(iv)(I)) is amended 

14 by striking ‘‘calendar year’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal year’’. 

15 SEC. 4. FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION. 

16 (a) FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION.—Section 483 of the 

17 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1090) is amend18 ed— 

19 (1) in subsection (a)(3), by adding at the end the 

20 following: 

21 ‘‘(I) FORMAT.—Not later than 180 days 

22 after the date of the enactment of the Simpli23 fying the Application for Student Aid Act, the 

24 Secretary shall make the electronic version of the 

25 forms under this paragraph available through a 


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1 technology tool that can be used on mobile de2 vices. Such technology tool shall, at minimum, 

3 enable applicants to— 

4 ‘‘(i) save data; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) submit their FAFSA to the Sec6 retary through such tool. 

7 ‘‘(J) CONSUMER TESTING.—In developing 

8 and maintaining the electronic version of the 

9 forms under this paragraph and the technology 

10 tool for mobile devices under subparagraph (I), 

11 the Secretary shall conduct consumer testing 

12 with appropriate persons to ensure the forms 

13 and technology tool are designed to be easily usa14 ble and understandable by students and families. 

15 Such consumer testing shall include— 

16 ‘‘(i) current and prospective college 

17 students, family members of such students, 

18 and other individuals with expertise in stu19 dent financial assistance application proc20 esses; 

21 ‘‘(ii) dependent students and inde22 pendent students meeting the requirements 

23 under subsection (b) or (c) of section 479; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) dependent students and inde2 pendent students who do not meet the re3 quirements under subsection (b) or (c) of 

4 section 479.’’; and 

5 (2) by amending subsection (f) to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(f) USE OF INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE DATA RE7 TRIEVAL TOOL TO POPULATE FAFSA.— 

8 ‘‘(1) SIMPLIFICATION EFFORTS.—The Secretary 

9 shall— 

10 ‘‘(A) make every effort to use data available 

11 from the Internal Revenue Service to reduce the 

12 amount of original data entry by applicants and 

13 strengthen the reliability of data used to cal14 culate expected family contributions, including 

15 through the use of technology to— 

16 ‘‘(i) automatically populate the elec17 tronic version of the forms under this para18 graph with data available from the Internal 

19 Revenue Service; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) direct an applicant to appro21 priate questions on such forms based on the 

22 applicant’s answers to previous questions; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(B) allow single taxpayers, married tax25 payers filing jointly, and married taxpayers filVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:22 Jul 12, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5528.RH H5528

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1 ing separately to utilize the data retrieval tool to 

2 its full capacity. 

3 ‘‘(2) USE OF TAX RETURN IN APPLICATION PROC4 ESS.—The Secretary shall continue to examine wheth5 er data provided by the Internal Revenue Service can 

6 be used to generate an expected family contribution 

7 without additional action on the part of the student 

8 and taxpayer. 

9 ‘‘(3) REPORTS ON FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION EF10 FORTS.—Not less than once every other year, the Sec11 retary shall report to the authorizing committees on 

12 the progress of the simplification efforts under this 

13 subsection. 

14 ‘‘(4) REPORTS ON FAFSA ACCESS.—Not less than 

15 once every 10 years, the Secretary shall report to the 

16 authorizing committees on the needs of limited 

17 English proficient students using the FAFSA.’’. 

18 (b) FUNDING.— 

19 (1) USE OF EXISTING FUNDS.—Of the amount 

20 authorized to be appropriated to the Department of 

21 Education to maintain the Free Application for Fed22 eral Student Aid, $3,000,000 shall be available to 

23 carry out this Act and the amendments made by this 

24 Act. 


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1 (2) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.—No 

2 funds are authorized by this Act to be appropriated 

3 to carry out this Act or the amendments made by this 

4 Act. 


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Union Calendar No. 526 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5528 

[Report No. 114–678] 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to 

simplify the FAFSA, and for other purposes. 

JULY 11, 2016 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS