FAFSA Antiquated, Confusing, Lags Far Behind Digital Age

January 8th, 2007

Old School

During a recent Congressional hearing a number of education specialists testified to the general confusion the eight-page Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) spawns each academic year, reported the Des Moines Register in an article this morning, “College Aid a Long Form Away.” Not only this, but the entire federal approval process was designed over 30 years ago and the majority of the information the current form requires could ideally be accessed through various other online government agencies, that is if THEY were all on board with the internet age.

Almost every college-bound kid, along with their parent or guardian, needs to file a FAFSA, that’s if they want any form of government financial aid. Right now the government requires college financial aid offices to audit a certain percentage of the forms, by requesting random applicants attach copies of their tax and income forms. This, experts agree, gobbles up even more chunks of time that could be better spent.

Currently the confusion is so rampant and the document so “intimidating” that most student loan providers and college financial aid offices tutor and advise FAFSA applicants so forms are filled out correctly.

Slowly, but surely, progress is kicking in. According to the recent Summary of FAFSA Statistics posted by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, “[n]inety-four percent (over 8.5 million) of the filers submitted the FAFSA electronically.” This is a nine percent increase from 2005’s stats.

New School

One recommendation, from Laurie Wolf, Executive Dean of Student Services for Des Moines Community College, is to “simplify the process and speed it up by electronically linking FAFSA to databanks of other government agencies. For instance, income tax information could be linked to IRS information, while pertinent information from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or criminal justice systems, also could be electronically sluiced into FAFSA.”

While we wait another millennium for this level of government integration, financial aid experts from colleges and student loan providers make FAFSA debunking part of their annual ritual, a costly way to pick up where governmental red tape leaves off.


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