Asking for student loan may get easier

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration took dead aim yesterday at one of the biggest headaches faced by college students and their families -- how to fill out what has become a lengthy and complicated application for financial aid.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan outlined a series of changes that could allow some applicants to skip many of the 153 questions.
"Too many students who qualified found applying for student loans was too difficult to understand," Duncan said. "Too often, they simply got frustrated and they gave up. The form itself was liter-
ally a barrier to entry in college. That has to change.
"Next year's applicants should see a 20 percent reduction in the number of questions and a 50 percent reduction in the number of Web pages to navigate," Duncan said.
He also asked Congress to adopt a sweeping overhaul aimed at making the form easier to fill out, including allowing families to attach their tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service to the application. Currently, families have to include separate investment and banking records.
As tuition soars, financial assistance is crucial to keeping students in college. Of the 60,000 students at Ohio State University and its regional campuses, more than 32,000 receive financial aid.
The reforms are aimed at the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA. The six-page application is so complex that last year former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings jokingly complained, "It asks you how old you are three different ways."
In the final months of the Bush administration, Spellings asked Congress to reduce the number of questions in the form to just 27. Congress never acted on that.
"It's a good step," said Tally Hart, senior adviser for economic access at Ohio State. "That form is really a deterrent in its existing structure because it looks so intimidating. and the problem is the greatest for the people it should serve the most."
Educators and financial-aid specialists hailed the move, saying it eventually could lead to more students applying for financial aid.
"Could the department have gone further? Yes," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, which represents the nation's universities. "Some people think you should get them on a postcard. But the fewer the questions, the less accuracy you have. What the department is trying to do is balance the importance of simplification with accuracy."
Beginning this summer, students who have reached the age of 24 or are married may skip 11 questions dealing with their parents' financial history. Men older than 26 will not have to answer the question about Selective Service registration. And when the new forms are made available in January, low-income students will not be asked about assets.
In another effort to simplify federal assistance, the Education Department has been giving students instant estimates of Pell Grant and student-loan eligibility since May.

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