I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5528 

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 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to simplify 

the FAFSA, and for other purposes. 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. CALCULATION OF ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT PERCENT2 AGE FOR FEDERAL PELL GRANTS. 

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

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

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

6 SEC. 4. FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION. 

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

8 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1090) is 

9 amended— 

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

11 the following: 

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

13 after the date of the enactment of the Simpli14 fying the Application for Student Aid Act, the 

15 Secretary shall make the electronic version of 

16 the forms under this paragraph available 

17 through a technology tool that can be used on 

18 mobile devices. Such technology tool shall, at 

19 minimum, enable applicants to— 

20 ‘‘(i) save data; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) submit their FAFSA to the Sec22 retary through such tool. 

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

24 and maintaining the electronic version of the 

25 forms under this paragraph and the technology 

26 tool for mobile devices under subparagraph (I), 


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1 the Secretary shall conduct consumer testing 

2 with appropriate persons to ensure the forms 

3 and technology tool are designed to be easily 

4 usable and understandable by students and 

5 families. Such consumer testing shall include, 

6 but is not limited to— 

7 ‘‘(i) current and prospective college 

8 students, family members of such students, 

9 and other individuals with expertise in stu10 dent financial assistance application proc11 esses; 

12 ‘‘(ii) dependent students and inde13 pendent students meeting the requirements 

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

15 and 

16 ‘‘(iii) dependent students and inde17 pendent students who do not meet the re18 quirements under subsection (b) or (c) of 

19 section 479.’’; and 

20 (2) by amending subsection (f) to read as fol21 lows: 

22 ‘‘(f) USE OF INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE DATA

23 RETRIEVAL TOOL TO POPULATE FAFSA.— 

24 ‘‘(1) SIMPLIFICATION EFFORTS.—The Sec25 retary shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) make every effort to use data avail2 able from the Internal Revenue Service to re3 duce the amount of original data entry by appli4 cants and strengthen the reliability of data used 

5 to calculate expected family contributions, in6 cluding through the use of technology to— 

7 ‘‘(i) automatically populate the elec8 tronic version of the forms under this 

9 paragraph with data available from the In10 ternal Revenue Service; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) direct an applicant to appro12 priate questions on such forms based on 

13 the applicant’s answers to previous ques14 tions; and 

15 ‘‘(B) allow single taxpayers, married tax16 payers filing jointly, and married taxpayers fil17 ing separately to utilize the data retrieval tool 

18 to its full capacity. 

19 ‘‘(2) USE OF TAX RETURN IN APPLICATION

20 PROCESS.—The Secretary shall continue to examine 

21 whether data provided by the Internal Revenue Serv22 ice can be used to generate an expected family con23 tribution without additional action on the part of the 

24 student and taxpayer. 


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1 ‘‘(3) REPORTS ON FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION EF2 FORTS.—Not less than once every other year, the 

3 Secretary shall report to the authorizing committees 

4 on the progress of the simplification efforts under 

5 this subsection. 

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

7 than once every 10 years, the Secretary shall report 

8 to the authorizing committees on the needs of lim9 ited English proficient students using the FAFSA.’’. 

10 (b) FUNDING.— 

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

12 authorized to be appropriated to the Department of 

13 Education to maintain the Free Application for Fed14 eral Student Aid, $3,000,000 shall be available to 

15 carry out this Act and the amendments made by this 

16 Act. 

17 (2) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.—No 

18 funds are authorized by this Act to be appropriated 

19 to carry out this Act or the amendments made by 

20 this Act. 

Æ 


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