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 as-
sistance are required to file a FAFSA, 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’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:20 Sep 06, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4240.IH
H4240
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
SEC. 2. ONE-TIME FAFSA FILING. 
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: 
‘‘(13) ONE-TIME FAFSA FILING.— 
‘‘(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 eligible 
to receive a Federal Pell Grant for the award 
year for which the applicant submitted such 
FAFSA, for any succeeding award year— 
‘‘(i) for which the applicant does not 
submit a FAFSA and for which the appli-
cant submits a certification form described 
in subparagraph (D) that does not indicate 
a change in the dependency status of such 
applicant, such applicant— 
‘‘(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 
21:20 Sep 06, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4240.IH
H4240
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
equal to the expected family contribu-
tion of the applicant determined for 
the award year for which the appli-
cant submitted a FAFSA during such 
period, except that an adjustment to 
such expected family contribution may 
be made under section 479A; 
‘‘(ii) for which the applicant submits a 
certification form described in subpara-
graph (D) that indicates a change in the 
dependency status of the applicant, such 
applicant— 
‘‘(I) shall be required to submit a 
FAFSA with respect to such award 
year to receive financial assistance 
under this title; and 
‘‘(II) shall have an expected fam-
ily contribution for such year that is 
determined based on such FAFSA; 
‘‘(iii) for which the applicant submits 
a FAFSA, such applicant— 
‘‘(I) shall have an expected fam-
ily contribution for such year that is 
determined based on such FAFSA; 
and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:20 Sep 06, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4240.IH
H4240
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
‘‘(II) shall be required to submit 
a FAFSA for any other award year 
for which the applicant seeks financial 
assistance under this title; and 
‘‘(iv) for which the applicant does not 
submit a certification form described in 
subparagraph (D), such applicant shall 
submit a FAFSA for such succeeding 
award year and any other award year for 
which the applicant seeks financial assist-
ance 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 award year, for any succeeding award year 
after the award year for which the adjustment 
was made, subclause (II) of such subparagraph 
shall be applied to such applicant by sub-
stituting ‘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 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:20 Sep 06, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4240.IH
H4240
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
for the award year for which the applicant sub-
mitted a FAFSA during such period’. 
‘‘(C) RULE
FOR
CERTAIN
STUDENTS.— 
With respect to an applicant who submits a 
FAFSA for award year 2020–2021 and enrolls 
in an institution of higher education for such 
year, subparagraph (A) shall be applied— 
‘‘(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 
by substituting ‘award year 2020–2021’ 
for ‘the first time’; and 
‘‘(ii) in clause (i)(II), by substituting 
‘award year 2020–2021’ for ‘the award 
year for which the applicant submitted a 
FAFSA during such period’. 
‘‘(D) STUDENT
CERTIFICATION
FORM.— 
The Secretary, in cooperation with representa-
tives of agencies and organizations involved in 
student financial assistance, shall use behav-
ioral science insights to produce, distribute, and 
process free of charge a short and simple con-
sumer-tested certification form that uses skip 
logic to bypass fields that are inapplicable to an 
applicant. Such form shall not require an appli-
cant to provide data that the Secretary may 
otherwise obtain with respect to the applicant 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:20 Sep 06, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4240.IH
H4240
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
(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 whether the applicant 
is— 
‘‘(I) a dependent student; 
‘‘(II) a single independent stu-
dent or a married independent stu-
dent without dependents (other than a 
spouse); or 
‘‘(III) an independent student 
with dependents other than a spouse; 
‘‘(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-
cant is, or will be enrolled, for the award 
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: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:20 Sep 06, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4240.IH
H4240
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
‘‘(I) The applicant submitted a 
FAFSA. 
‘‘(II) The applicant received an 
adjustment under section 479A to the 
expected family contribution of the 
applicant. 
‘‘(E) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 
‘‘(i) 
DEPENDENCY
STATUS.—The 
term ‘dependency status’ means the status 
of an applicant as— 
‘‘(I) a dependent student; 
‘‘(II) a single independent stu-
dent or a married independent stu-
dent without dependents (other than a 
spouse); or 
‘‘(III) an independent student 
with dependents other than a spouse. 
‘‘(ii) SUCCEEDING
AWARD
YEAR.— 
The term ‘succeeding award year’— 
‘‘(I) when used with respect to 
an applicant who submits a FAFSA 
for the first time for an award year 
during the period required for the 
completion of the first undergraduate 
baccalaureate course of study being 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:20 Sep 06, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4240.IH
H4240
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
pursued by such applicant, means any 
award year during such period that 
follows the award year for which the 
applicant submits such FAFSA; and 
‘‘(II) when used with respect to 
an applicant described in subpara-
graph (C), means any award year 
after award year 2019–2020 during 
the period required for the completion 
of the first undergraduate bacca-
laureate course of study being pur-
sued by such applicant.’’. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:20 Sep 06, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H4240.IH
H4240
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS