The Foreign Service Journal, December 2015

62 DECEMBER 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT According to the White House, “Learning about aid eligibility options much earlier in the college application and decision process will allow students and families to determine the true cost of attending college—taking available financial aid into account—and make more informed decisions.” Students will also have access to a new IRS data retrieval tool (DRT) that populates FAFSA fields with information directly from the IRS database, drasti- cally reducing human error. The White House has emphasized the time-saving aspect for colleges, which will no longer have to verify student-entered financial data, as well as for students. Seven years ago it took families an hour to fill out the FAFSA; with the changes, it will take about 20 minutes. Making Aid Accessible The Office of Federal Student Aid cur- rently offers more than $150 billion each year to more than 13 million students in higher education under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (1965). More than 65 percent of all full-time college students receive some form of federal financial aid. Yet, according to the Department of Education, about 2 million college students did not apply for Pell Grants last year, despite being eligible; and many About 2 million college students did not apply for Pell Grants last year, despite being eligible.