Students applying for financial aid can expect the process to be a little bit easier after last week’s release of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
The new version of the application will have 22 fewer questions and 17 fewer screens, or pages of questions, than the online version. This entails a 63 percent reduction in the size of the online application.
According to UCLA alumnus and United States Student Association President Gregory Cendana, the new application will use a technique called skip logic, in which previous answers are used to predict later ones, thereby eliminating questions that do not apply to the applicant.
More than 20 million students file the FAFSA each year, and it is the most widely used application for receiving federally funded aid at UCLA.
According to Ronald Johnson, the UCLA financial aid director, the university received more applications for financial aid than any other school for the 2009-2010 school year. Due to the new ease of applying, Johnson said he expects to see even more applications this year.
“The bottom line basically is that the application will be a lot more user-friendly for students and parents to complete,” he said. “As a consequence of that work, we are hoping that more students will complete the application.”
The UCLA Financial Aid Office also expects to see a greater variety of applicants due to these changes.
“Probably the demographics will be somewhat enhanced because less individuals will be intimidated in completing the application,” Johnson said. “(This) will result in more diverse pool of students.”
Another change to the application is that parents will now be able to contact the Internal Revenue Service while filling out the FAFSA to import their income information to the online version of the form.
Johnson said he believes this modification will make the information in the application more accurate.
The new application has also eliminated questions regarding drug convictions for first-year students and questions regarding legal residency for applicants who have lived at the same address for at least four years.
In response, Jake Stillwell, the U.S. Student Association communications director, said he believes these revisions will encourage students who are otherwise deterred from filling out the form to apply for aid this year.
“It will be a step in the right direction in that students will be able to get the aid they’re already eligible for,” he said.
The enhancements made to the FAFSA are part of President Barack Obama’s proposed plan to increase college enrollment in the United States.
According to Stillwell, the Obama administration aims to have the U.S. have the highest rate of college graduation by 2020.
“I think the simplification of the FAFSA will be a contributor to the goal of President Obama,” he said. “What it”˜s doing is removing an obstacle or a barrier from the path of students.”
According to the U.S. Student Association, the new FAFSA is simply an initial step in reaching the Obama administration’s education reform goals.
The major project that is being undertaken by the Obama administration and the U.S. Department of Education is the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which proposes increasing federal funding for grants and financial aid while removing the prevalence of private loans.
The bill is currently under revision by the Senate.
“FAFSA simplification is a great start to the new year, but we’re looking forward to even greater student reform in the future,” Cendana said.