IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5528 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 12, 2016 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Simplifying the Appli3 cation for Student Aid Act’’. 

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

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

6 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087vv(a)(1)(B)) is amended by striking 

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

8 SEC. 3. CALCULATION OF ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT PERCENT9 AGE FOR FEDERAL PELL GRANTS. 

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

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

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

13 SEC. 4. FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION. 

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

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

16 amended— 

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

18 the following: 

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

20 after the date of the enactment of the Simpli21 fying the Application for Student Aid Act, the 

22 Secretary shall make the electronic version of 

23 the forms under this paragraph available 

24 through a technology tool that can be used on 

25 mobile devices. Such technology tool shall, at 

26 minimum, enable applicants to— 


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1 ‘‘(i) save data; and 

2 ‘‘(ii) submit their FAFSA to the Sec3 retary through such tool. 

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

5 and maintaining the electronic version of the 

6 forms under this paragraph and the technology 

7 tool for mobile devices under subparagraph (I), 

8 the Secretary shall conduct consumer testing 

9 with appropriate persons to ensure the forms 

10 and technology tool are designed to be easily 

11 usable and understandable by students and 

12 families. Such consumer testing shall include— 

13 ‘‘(i) current and prospective college 

14 students, family members of such students, 

15 and other individuals with expertise in stu16 dent financial assistance application proc17 esses; 

18 ‘‘(ii) dependent students and inde19 pendent students meeting the requirements 

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

21 and 

22 ‘‘(iii) dependent students and inde23 pendent students who do not meet the re24 quirements under subsection (b) or (c) of 

25 section 479.’’; and 


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1 (2) by amending subsection (f) to read as fol2 lows: 

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

4 RETRIEVAL TOOL TO POPULATE FAFSA.— 

5 ‘‘(1) SIMPLIFICATION EFFORTS.—The Sec6 retary shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) make every effort to allow applicants 

8 to utilize the current data retrieval tool to 

9 transfer data available from the Internal Rev10 enue Service to reduce the amount of original 

11 data entry by applicants and strengthen the re12 liability of data used to calculate expected fam13 ily contributions, including through the use of 

14 technology to— 

15 ‘‘(i) allow an applicant to automati16 cally populate the electronic version of the 

17 forms under this paragraph with data 

18 available from the Internal Revenue Serv19 ice; and 

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

22 the applicant’s answers to previous ques23 tions; and 

24 ‘‘(B) allow single taxpayers, married tax25 payers filing jointly, and married taxpayers filVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jul 13, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5528.RFS H5528

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1 ing separately to utilize the current data re2 trieval tool to its full capacity. 

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

4 PROCESS.—The Secretary shall continue to examine 

5 whether data provided by the Internal Revenue Serv6 ice can be used to generate an expected family con7 tribution without additional action on the part of the 

8 student and taxpayer. 

9 ‘‘(3) REPORTS ON FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION EF10 FORTS.—Not less than once every other year, the 

11 Secretary shall report to the authorizing committees 

12 on the progress of the simplification efforts under 

13 this subsection. 

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

15 than once every 10 years, the Secretary shall report 

16 to the authorizing committees on the needs of lim17 ited 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 

4 this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 11, 2016. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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