I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5784 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to simplify the FAFSA 
requirements for dependent students, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 14, 2016 
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia 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 requirements for dependent students, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘File Once FAFSA Act 
of 2016’’. 
SEC. 2. FAFSA SIMPLIFICATION. 
(a) ONE-TIME FAFSA FILING
FOR DEPENDENT 
STUDENTS.—Section 483(a) of the Higher Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1090(a)) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:42 Jul 27, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5784.IH
H5784
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
‘‘(13) ONE-TIME FAFSA FILING FOR DEPEND-
ENT STUDENTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 
other provision of this section and subject to 
subparagraphs (B) and (C), an applicant who 
submits a FAFSA for the first time during the 
period required for the completion of the first 
undergraduate baccalaureate course of study 
being pursued by such applicant and is deter-
mined to be a dependent student who is eligible 
to receive a Federal Pell Grant for the aca-
demic year for which the applicant submitted 
such FAFSA— 
‘‘(i) for any succeeding academic year 
for which the applicant does not submit a 
FAFSA and for which the applicant sub-
mits a certification form described in sub-
paragraph (D) based on which the Sec-
retary confirms that the applicant is a de-
pendent student for such year— 
‘‘(I) shall not be required to sub-
mit a FAFSA to receive financial as-
sistance under this title; and 
‘‘(II) shall have an expected fam-
ily contribution for such year that is 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:42 Jul 27, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5784.IH
H5784
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
academic year for which the applicant 
seeks financial assistance under this title. 
‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENT OF EXPECTED FAMILY 
CONTRIBUTION.—With respect to an applicant 
described in subparagraph (A)(i) who receives 
an adjustment under section 479A to the ex-
pected family contribution of the applicant for 
an academic year, for any succeeding academic 
year after the academic year for which the ad-
justment was made, subclause (II) of such sub-
paragraph shall be applied to such applicant by 
substituting ‘expected family contribution of the 
applicant as most recently adjusted under sec-
tion 479A for such applicant’ for the ‘expected 
family contribution of the applicant determined 
for the academic year for which the applicant 
submitted a FAFSA during such period’. 
‘‘(C) RULE
FOR
CERTAIN
STUDENTS.— 
With respect to an applicant who submits a 
FAFSA for academic year 2016–2017 and en-
rolls in an institution of higher education for 
such year, subparagraph (A) shall be applied— 
‘‘(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 
by substituting ‘academic year 2016–2017’ 
for ‘the first time’; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:42 Jul 27, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5784.IH
H5784
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
‘‘(ii) in clause (i)(II), by substituting 
‘academic year 2016–2017’ for ‘the aca-
demic year for which the applicant sub-
mitted a FAFSA during such period’. 
‘‘(D) 
DEPENDENT
STUDENT
CERTIFI-
CATION FORM.—The Secretary, in cooperation 
with representatives of agencies and organiza-
tions involved in student financial assistance, 
shall use behavioral science insights to produce, 
distribute, and process free of charge a short 
and simple consumer-tested dependent student 
certification form that uses skip logic to bypass 
fields that are inapplicable to an applicant. 
Such form shall not require an applicant to pro-
vide data that the Secretary may otherwise ob-
tain with respect to the applicant (such as age 
or active duty military status), and may only 
contain the data elements required for purposes 
of subparagraph (A)(i)— 
‘‘(i) to confirm that the applicant is a 
dependent student; 
‘‘(ii) to allow the applicant to update 
the contact information of such applicant 
or the Federal School Code of the institu-
tion of higher education in which the appli-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:42 Jul 27, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5784.IH
H5784
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
cant is, or will be enrolled, for the aca-
demic year for which the applicant submits 
such form; and 
‘‘(iii) to ask whether the applicant’s 
need and eligibility for financial assistance 
under this title has not changed substan-
tially since the most recent of the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(I) The applicant submitted a 
FAFSA. 
‘‘(II) The applicant received an 
adjustment under section 479A to the 
expected family contribution of the 
applicant. 
‘‘(E) SUCCEEDING
ACADEMIC
YEAR
DE-
FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘suc-
ceeding academic year’— 
‘‘(i) when used with respect to an ap-
plicant who submits a FAFSA for the first 
time for an academic year during the pe-
riod required for the completion of the first 
undergraduate baccalaureate course of 
study being pursued by such applicant, 
means any academic year during such pe-
riod that follows the academic year for 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:42 Jul 27, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5784.IH
H5784
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
which the applicant submits such FAFSA; 
and 
‘‘(ii) when used with respect to an ap-
plicant described in subparagraph (C), 
means any academic year after academic 
year 2016–2017 during the period required 
for the completion of the first under-
graduate baccalaureate course of study 
being pursued by such applicant.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
this section shall be effective with respect to determining 
the expected family contribution of applicants for award 
year 2017–2018 and each succeeding award year. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:42 Jul 27, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H5784.IH
H5784
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS