President Lois Hollis:
Dear Colleagues,
On October 23, 2009 NASSGAP submitted its comments on the proposed draft of the 2010-2011 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). It is a thoughtfully-crafted letter about, without a doubt, a form that is most critical to every state grant agency. You can find it in the "Don't Miss" section on the homepage (up top on the left-hand side). I encourage all members to read it.
NASSGAP is also providing comments on the proposed changes to the FAFSA on the Web (FOTW) as described in supplemental documents available on the USDE (Department) web site.
On 1/21/09 OPE released their “Report to Congress on Efforts to Simplify the FAFSA”.
As noted in the Transmittal Letter the Report was written in response to provisions included in the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act which required the Secretary Spellings to submit a report to Congress on her efforts to simplify the FAFSA.
The materials sent to Congress include the truncated and relatively ominous FAFSA draft the Depart. circulated months ago.
Efforts to simplify the FAFSA are serious. Many of the suggestions on how to accomplish it – including the President’s suggestion of eliminating the FAFSA in favor of using IRS filings - have been offered with the best of intentions.
However, NASSGAP fears few public policy figures realize the degree to which states use FAFSA data to compute state grant awards.
