Millions of students rely on the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, to attend college. The form collects the student and their family’s personal and financial information and uses that to determine what grants or loans they are eligible for. Without it, the ridiculously high cost of college would have to be paid completely out of pocket, putting college completely out of reach for most. 

The FAFSA has always been long, complicated and stressful, and when I heard that the form would be simplified and updated, I was ecstatic. However, as anyone who attempted to fill it out recently already knows, the cure has been much worse than the disease. 

The Oct. 1 release date was pushed back to Oct. 31, then Dec. 1, then Jan. 1, with very little explanation. When the form finally opened, it was riddled with bugs, and only a lucky few could actually submit a form without issue. Things have improved somewhat, but problems continue at the time of writing. 

Fortunately, there is a simple solution. Just… get rid of it. The U.S. Department of Education already knows who will be graduating high school, the IRS already knows their financial information, and these two pieces of information are all that is needed to determine eligibility. 

Making students complete the FAFSA is redundant and can be a huge hurdle to low-income and/or minority families who struggle to understand, let alone complete the form, when they are the population who benefits from financial aid the most! The DOE and the IRS should communicate the relevant information to each other, determine the student’s award, send a communication saying what the award is, and then the student can choose whether to accept it. 

Cut out the redundancy. Cut out the stress. Cut out the barriers to access. Cut out the FAFSA.