I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4240 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to reduce the number of 

times certain applicants for financial assistance are required to file a 

FAFSA, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019 

Ms. UNDERWOOD (for herself, Ms. SCANLON, and Ms. SCHRIER) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 

Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to reduce 

the number of times certain applicants for financial assistance are required to file a 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 ‘‘File Once FAFSA 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ONE-TIME FAFSA FILING. 

2 Section 483(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

3 (20 U.S.C. 1090(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(13) ONE-TIME FAFSA FILING.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

7 other provision of this section and subject to 

8 subparagraphs (B) and (C), an applicant who 

9 submits a FAFSA for the first time during the 

10 period required for the completion of the first 

11 undergraduate baccalaureate course of study 

12 being pursued by such applicant and is eligible 

13 to receive a Federal Pell Grant for the award 

14 year for which the applicant submitted such 

15 FAFSA, for any succeeding award year— 

16 ‘‘(i) for which the applicant does not 

17 submit a FAFSA and for which the appli18 cant submits a certification form described 

19 in subparagraph (D) that does not indicate 

20 a change in the dependency status of such 

21 applicant, such applicant— 

22 ‘‘(I) shall not be required to sub23 mit a FAFSA to receive financial as24 sistance under this title; and 

25 ‘‘(II) shall have an expected fam26 ily contribution for such year that is 


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1 equal to the expected family contribu2 tion of the applicant determined for 

3 the award year for which the appli4 cant submitted a FAFSA during such 

5 period, except that an adjustment to 

6 such expected family contribution may 

7 be made under section 479A; 

8 ‘‘(ii) for which the applicant submits a 

9 certification form described in subpara10 graph (D) that indicates a change in the 

11 dependency status of the applicant, such 

12 applicant— 

13 ‘‘(I) shall be required to submit a 

14 FAFSA with respect to such award 

15 year to receive financial assistance 

16 under this title; and 

17 ‘‘(II) shall have an expected fam18 ily contribution for such year that is 

19 determined based on such FAFSA; 

20 ‘‘(iii) for which the applicant submits 

21 a FAFSA, such applicant— 

22 ‘‘(I) shall have an expected fam23 ily contribution for such year that is 

24 determined based on such FAFSA; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(II) shall be required to submit 

2 a FAFSA for any other award year 

3 for which the applicant seeks financial 

4 assistance under this title; and 

5 ‘‘(iv) for which the applicant does not 

6 submit a certification form described in 

7 subparagraph (D), such applicant shall 

8 submit a FAFSA for such succeeding 

9 award year and any other award year for 

10 which the applicant seeks financial assist11 ance under this title. 

12 ‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENT OF EXPECTED FAMILY

13 CONTRIBUTION.—With respect to an applicant 

14 described in subparagraph (A)(i) who receives 

15 an adjustment under section 479A to the ex16 pected family contribution of the applicant for 

17 an award year, for any succeeding award year 

18 after the award year for which the adjustment 

19 was made, subclause (II) of such subparagraph 

20 shall be applied to such applicant by sub21 stituting ‘expected family contribution of the 

22 applicant as most recently adjusted under sec23 tion 479A for such applicant’ for the ‘expected 

24 family contribution of the applicant determined 


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1 for the award year for which the applicant sub2 mitted a FAFSA during such period’. 

3 ‘‘(C) RULE FOR CERTAIN STUDENTS.— 

4 With respect to an applicant who submits a 

5 FAFSA for award year 2020–2021 and enrolls 

6 in an institution of higher education for such 

7 year, subparagraph (A) shall be applied— 

8 ‘‘(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

9 by substituting ‘award year 2020–2021’ 

10 for ‘the first time’; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) in clause (i)(II), by substituting 

12 ‘award year 2020–2021’ for ‘the award 

13 year for which the applicant submitted a 

14 FAFSA during such period’. 

15 ‘‘(D) STUDENT CERTIFICATION FORM.— 

16 The Secretary, in cooperation with representa17 tives of agencies and organizations involved in 

18 student financial assistance, shall use behav19 ioral science insights to produce, distribute, and 

20 process free of charge a short and simple con21 sumer-tested certification form that uses skip 

22 logic to bypass fields that are inapplicable to an 

23 applicant. Such form shall not require an appli24 cant to provide data that the Secretary may 

25 otherwise obtain with respect to the applicant 


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1 (such as age or active duty military status), and 

2 may only contain the data elements required for 

3 purposes of subparagraph (A)(i)— 

4 ‘‘(i) to confirm whether the applicant 

5 is— 

6 ‘‘(I) a dependent student; 

7 ‘‘(II) a single independent stu8 dent or a married independent stu9 dent without dependents (other than a 

10 spouse); or 

11 ‘‘(III) an independent student 

12 with dependents other than a spouse; 

13 ‘‘(ii) to allow the applicant to update 

14 the contact information of such applicant 

15 or the Federal School Code of the institu16 tion of higher education in which the appli17 cant is, or will be enrolled, for the award 

18 year for which the applicant submits such 

19 form; and 

20 ‘‘(iii) to ask whether the applicant’s 

21 need and eligibility for financial assistance 

22 under this title has not changed substan23 tially since the most recent of the fol24 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(I) The applicant submitted a 

2 FAFSA. 

3 ‘‘(II) The applicant received an 

4 adjustment under section 479A to the 

5 expected family contribution of the 

6 applicant. 

7 ‘‘(E) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(i) DEPENDENCY STATUS.—The 

9 term ‘dependency status’ means the status 

10 of an applicant as— 

11 ‘‘(I) a dependent student; 

12 ‘‘(II) a single independent stu13 dent or a married independent stu14 dent without dependents (other than a 

15 spouse); or 

16 ‘‘(III) an independent student 

17 with dependents other than a spouse. 

18 ‘‘(ii) SUCCEEDING AWARD YEAR.— 

19 The term ‘succeeding award year’— 

20 ‘‘(I) when used with respect to 

21 an applicant who submits a FAFSA 

22 for the first time for an award year 

23 during the period required for the 

24 completion of the first undergraduate 

25 baccalaureate course of study being 


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1 pursued by such applicant, means any 

2 award year during such period that 

3 follows the award year for which the 

4 applicant submits such FAFSA; and 

5 ‘‘(II) when used with respect to 

6 an applicant described in subpara7 graph (C), means any award year 

8 after award year 2019–2020 during 

9 the period required for the completion 

10 of the first undergraduate bacca11 laureate course of study being pur12 sued by such applicant.’’. 

Æ 


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