The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation joined the debate over Fafsa simplification on Wednesday, issuing a paper that calls for making the process of applying for student aid simpler, more open, and better timed.
The document, the first postsecondary-policy paper by the megafoundation, adds the nation’s biggest philanthropist to the chorus of voices calling on the U.S. Congress and the Education Department to slim down the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and to let students apply for aid earlier in high school.
Some of the paper’s solutions have been proposed before, including allowing applicants to populate the form with tax data from two years earlier. Others are more novel, including a plan to sort applicants according to the complexity of their financial situations.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/Simplifying-Financial-Aid-/231447