Sec. 401. FAFSA pilot program
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Part G of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1088 et seq. ) is amended by inserting after section 483 the following: The purposes of this section are— to streamline the annual process by which students apply for Federal financial assistance; to reduce the need for students to re-apply for such assistance each year; to lower the cost of student borrowing by maintaining important student loan protections, such as the in-school interest subsidy; to strengthen the middle class and reduce income inequality by targeting financial aid to low- and middle-income students; and to ensure that the financial aid application uses income data from prior tax years readily available to students and families to facilitate the widespread and increased use of automated processes, such as at the IRS-Data Retrieval Tool (IRS–DRT), with the goal of reducing errors and easing the time and rigor of the application process.
The Secretary is authorized to establish a pilot program and select 5 eligible States— in which a student who attends an institution of higher education in the eligible State may submit a single Free Application for Federal Student Aid, as described in section 483 and modified under subsection
(d)(referred to in this section as the FAFSA ), to be used as the application to determine the need and eligibility of the student for financial assistance under this title during the official length of the student's proposed postsecondary degree program; and that shall each receive a grant in accordance with subsection (e). The Secretary shall select 5 eligible States that are determined by the Secretary to have a strong record of increasing college access and affordability, especially for low-income students, to participate in the pilot program described in subsection (b). The selection of eligible States shall be based on the extent to which the State has— invested, and continues to invest, significantly in public higher education, resulting in a comparatively lower net price for low-income students; allocated State financial aid primarily on the basis of need; and agreed, as a condition of the State's application for the pilot program under this section, to provide all in-State students (as determined by the State) with an offer for State financial aid that— is valid for not less than 2 years and not more than 4 years, as determined by the State; and shall be subject to change only upon certain conditions, such as significant changes in a student's financial circumstances. The Secretary shall implement, in consultation with the 5 selected eligible States, a pilot program to streamline the process of application to determine the need and eligibility of a student for financial assistance under this title that incorporates the following: An option for students that are enrolled in an institution of higher education in a selected eligible State to submit a single FAFSA at the beginning of the student's postsecondary degree program and receive a determination of financial assistance under this title that shall, on a contingent basis, be valid for not less than 2 years and not more than 4 years, as determined by the State. The determination of financial assistance under paragraph
(1)shall be made in accordance with part F, except that relevant calculations shall be made using a multi-year average, of 2 or 3 years, from the most recent tax years for which data are available. A student may use previously submitted student and parent taxpayer data to prepopulate the electronic version of the FAFSA, as described in section 483(f). As a condition of the continued receipt of financial assistance under this section, the Secretary may require a student who submits the single FAFSA to respond to a short number of questions (which may be determined by the Secretary), on an annual basis, to determine if there is a change in the financial status of the student (such as whether the student or the student's parent has experienced a substantial increase in annual income) in order to ensure that the student continues to receive the appropriate amount of financial assistance under this title. Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a requirement that students who experience significant changes in their financial circumstances, as determined by the Secretary, will be required to resubmit the FAFSA in order to receive a new determination of financial assistance under this title. An income verification process— which the Secretary, through the establishment of a memorandum of understanding with the Secretary of the Treasury, will develop to share the income tax data of a random sample of students who have received Federal assistance under this title, including Federal Pell Grants under section 401 and loans made under part D; to ensure that students who have not resubmitted a FAFSA in accordance with paragraph
(3)did not have a significant change in financial circumstances that would have required them to do so; that shall be carried out in a way so as to ensure that no personally identifiable information is made public through the income verification process; and that will be carried out only with the consent of students, whose consent will be requested as part of the annual response required under paragraph (3). An option for students to request professional judgment or resubmit their FAFSA each year, to receive a new determination of eligibility for financial assistance under this title. Each eligible State selected under this section shall receive a grant to increase public awareness of, and promote the use of, the single FAFSA that may be submitted under the pilot program to be used as the application to determine the need and eligibility of the student for financial assistance under this title during the official length of the student's proposed postsecondary degree program. Grants provided under this section shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, State funds that are used to improve college access and affordability. Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of the College for All Act , and 5 years thereafter, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to the authorizing committees a report that contains an evaluation of the effectiveness of the pilot program under this section in improving college access, increasing FAFSA submission rates, and increasing postsecondary education credit and course accumulation. .
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Sec. 401
FAFSA pilot program
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