H.R. 4245 · 116th Congress
HOPE (Heightening Opportunities for Pathways to Education) for FAFSA Act
- Stage
- In committee
- Sponsor
- Lucy McBath
- Introduced
- 2019-09-09
- Latest action
- 2019-09-09 · Introduced in House
Summary
HOPE (Heightening Opportunities for Pathways to Education) for FAFSA Act
This bill revises the application process for a Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Specifically, the Department of Education (ED) shall not require an applicant to provide income or asset information if the applicant indicates they received a federal benefit (e.g., supplemental nutrition assistance or Social Security disability) at some time during the previous 24 months. ED shall use a data retrieval tool to obtain such information for any other applicant.
The bill raises to $34,000 the amount of household income below which a student shall be considered to have an expected family contribution (EFC) equal to zero. EFC is used to calculate individual financial aid awards, and an EFC of zero means that a student's family is deemed unable to contribute to educational expenses.