In a
speech delivered yesterday at Harvard University, U. S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
announced that her department had managed to whittle the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (
FAFSA) down to 27 questions. The FAFSA is currently 120 questions long and described as Spellings as more complicated than an income tax form. A shorter FAFSA has been
called for by Congress and advocated by virtually everyone aware of the form's existence.
Spellings stated in her speech that the length of the FAFSA may be preventing many families from filling it out, despite the fact that they might qualify for
federal student financial aid. While part of this phenomenon is likely due to the prevalence of
financial aid myths, the complicated nature of the FAFSA likely does play a role. Although
fafsa.ed.gov states that the form should take less than an hour to complete, even for first-time filers, the assessment has always seemed a bit overly optimistic to me. I remember my first encounter with the FAFSA taking hours, and while I ultimately submitted it, I definitely did so under duress and only after repeatedly begging my parents to fill it out for me. An effort by the Education Department to make it simpler and less stressful to
pay for school is definitely welcome.
While Spellings' speech didn't address whether this was the final incarnation of the FAFSA or when changes would debut (let's all cross our fingers for January), a shorter
financial aid application is undoubtedly good news for students. In the meantime, if you're struggling with
applying for financial aid, check out some of the
resources offered by Scholarships.com. We have a breakdown of
FAFSA and other daunting financial aid acronyms, some tips for
completing the FAFSA, and detailed instructions for filling out the
FAFSA on the Web.
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