By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
One of the most challenging aspects of college attendance is funding, and the Department of Education offers various avenues for families to secure financial support. However, barriers and a cumbersome bureaucracy have proven stumbling blocks for some parents and students.
In response, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), recently unveiled a new, simplified Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. This initiative, part of Murray’s financial aid reforms, aims to ease paperwork, ultimately increasing the number of students receiving aid.
“For years, a complicated and cumbersome financial aid process has turned what should be a first step on the path to higher education into the first stumbling block for too many students,” said Murray. “That’s why I’m proud to have led the negotiations to pass into law the FAFSA Simplification Act, which simplifies the FAFSA form significantly and expands eligibility so that many more students get more aid.”
“These are some straightforward changes, but they are going to make a huge difference for students. They will mean fewer headaches over paperwork and more aid reaching more people,” Murray continued. “With the new FAFSA, a student who started their application when this call began could even be done before it’s over! In some cases, applicants will go from having to answer over a hundred possible questions to fewer than twenty.”
The Department of Education states that the new FAFSA form will be available to students and families by the year-end when the reforms negotiated by Murray will take effect.
Nationwide, it is estimated that these changes will assist 610,000 more students from low-income backgrounds in receiving Pell Grants, with 1.5 million more students gaining access to the maximum Pell Grants. In Washington state alone, 14,797 new students are set to receive Pell Grants, and 23,731 more are set to receive the maximum Pell Grant.
In 2020, as the top Democrat on the Senate HELP Committee, Senator Murray successfully negotiated bipartisan legislation to reform the financial aid application process, simplify the FAFSA form, and expand eligibility for federal aid.
“The bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act that Senator Murray negotiated was signed into law in December 2020. Senator Murray secured policies that restore Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated individuals, students defrauded, and students with drug-related offenses,” said Becky Thompson, Director of Student Financial Assistance at the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC). “The act significantly expands who is eligible to receive Pell Grants and the maximum award; simplifies the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA); and makes the financial aid process easier to navigate for students experiencing homelessness and students formerly in foster care.”
Murray assures her constituents of her commitment to completing the task, and with enhanced calculations, thousands more students will have the opportunity to attend college, thanks to the efforts of Senator Murray and her colleagues.
“And thanks to the improved calculations, six hundred thousand students will be newly eligible for Pell Grants, and one and a half million more students will be eligible for the maximum Pell award,” continued Senator Murray. “I’m going to keep fighting to finish doubling the Pell Grant, deliver debt relief for students, establish tuition-free community college, make the student loan system work better, and much more. But this overhaul is the most significant in decades.”
Just as Murray attests to the facts that her college experience may not have been realized if it weren’t for programs such as Pell Grants and financial aid assistance programs, she wants to ensure that future generations possess the same opportunities.
“And I want to make sure kids today have that same opportunity we did to pursue a higher education. Today, one of the first steps many kids take to make that dream a reality is filling out the FAFSA,” says Murray. “Now, there is no reason for that to be a huge headache. But for years, a complicated and cumbersome financial aid process has turned what should be a first step on the path to a higher education into the first stumbling block for too many students.”
FAFSA completion rates or the lack thereof are what is getting to the bottom of this dilemma. In recent years, less than half of Washington seniors have completed the application process.
“That’s a big red flag for our student aid system,” says Murray. “Unfortunately, this has been especially clear in Washington state where FAFSA completion rates are well below the national average. Less than half of our seniors have completed the FAFSA in recent years.”
Like most pathways for students, particularly underserved and underrepresented communities, barriers have always been at issue for qualified students to receive financial assistance.
“The FAFSA must be a tool that expands access to higher education, not a barrier that prevents qualified students from getting the financial aid they need to go to college,” Murray continues. “We have to be opening the doors to higher education as wide as we can. That’s why I’m proud to have led the negotiations to pass into law the FAFSA Simplification Act, which simplifies the FAFSA form significantly and expands eligibility so that many more students get more aid.”