Senate-approved higher ed bill includes language from Gardner’s FAFSA legislation

Language from the bipartisan Faster Access to Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Act, which U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) introduced during the last session of Congress to simplify the federal application for higher education student financial aid, on Dec. 5 received U.S. Senate approval as part of a larger bill.

“This bipartisan legislation makes the complex process easier for students and their parents so that no student has to miss out on educational opportunities because completing their forms was more difficult than it needed to be,” Sen. Gardner said last week.

The senator’s legislation, S. 3611, was introduced in November 2018, passed the Senate by unanimous consent in December 2018, but never made it out of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Language from S. 3611 last week was included in the Senate-amended version of the bipartisan Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act, H.R. 2486, which would permanently fund historically black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions. The House passed H.R. 2486 in September and sent it to the Senate for consideration.

The Senate language from Sen. Gardner’s bill calls for reducing the verification processes for students and parents who file the FAFSA for financial aid by turning a seven-click process into a single-click process that answers at least 11 and up to 22 FAFSA questions to transfer IRS tax-filing data to the U.S. Department of Education, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Gardner’s office.

“I applaud the bipartisan agreement this week that will provide funding certainty to historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions, while also improving the FAFSA,” said Sen. Gardner. “Ensuring students are able to complete their FAFSA forms each year is crucial to continuing their education.”