Title: File Once FAFSA Act
Policy area: Education

Summary:
File Once FAFSA Act
This bill makes adjustments to the process of filing a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
Specifically, a student who submits a FAFSA and learns they are eligible for a Pell Grant will not be required to refile the FAFSA.
The Department of Education must develop a certification form that determines student certification for each academic year by asking whether the student's circumstances have significantly changed, and a student shall not be required to refile a FAFSA unless they indicate that their circumstances or dependency status have changed.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4240 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``File Once FAFSA Act''.

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 applicant 
                        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 
                                submit a FAFSA to receive financial 
                                assistance under this title; and
                                    ``(II) shall have an expected 
                                family contribution for such year that 
                                is equal to the expected family 
                                contribution of the applicant 
                                determined for the award year for which 
                                the applicant 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 subparagraph 
                        (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 
                                family 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 family 
                                contribution for such year that is 
                                determined based on such FAFSA; and
                                    ``(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 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 expected 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 substituting `expected family contribution 
                of the applicant as most recently adjusted under 
                section 479A for such applicant' for the `expected 
                family contribution of the applicant determined for the 
                award 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 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 representatives of agencies and 
                organizations involved in student financial assistance, 
                shall use behavioral science insights to produce, 
                distribute, and process free of charge a short and 
                simple consumer-tested certification form that uses 
                skip logic to bypass fields that are inapplicable to an 
                applicant. Such form shall not require an applicant to 
                provide data that the Secretary may otherwise obtain 
                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 whether the applicant is--
                                    ``(I) a dependent student;
                                    ``(II) a single independent student 
                                or a married independent student 
                                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 institution of 
                        higher education in which the applicant 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 substantially since 
                        the most recent of the following:
                                    ``(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 student 
                                or a married independent student 
                                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 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 subparagraph 
                                (C), means any award year after award 
                                year 2019-2020 during the period 
                                required for the completion of the 
                                first undergraduate baccalaureate 
                                course of study being pursued by such 
                                applicant.''.
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