View Information Collection Request (ICR) Package

OMB Control No: 1845-0001	ICR Reference No: 201602-1845-004
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 201506-1845-001
Agency/Subagency: ED/FSA	Agency Tracking No:
Title: 2017-2018 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
Type of Information Collection: Revision of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved with change	Conclusion Date: 09/15/2016
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)	Date Received in OIRA: 07/18/2016
Terms of Clearance:

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	09/30/2019	24 Months From Approved	12/31/2018
Responses	38,669,924	0	40,135,807
Time Burden (Hours)	20,036,012	0	20,560,481
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Abstract: Section 483 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), mandates that the Secretary of Education "…shall produce, distribute, and process free of charge common financial reporting forms as described in this subsection to be used for application and reapplication to determine the need and eligibility of a student for financial assistance...". The determination of need and eligibility are for the following title IV, HEA, federal student financial assistance programs: the Federal Pell Grant Program; the Campus-Based programs (Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Work-Study (FWS), and the Federal Perkins Loan Program); the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program; the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant; and the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant. Federal Student Aid, an office of the U.S. Department of Education (hereafter "the Department"), subsequently developed an application process to collect and process the data necessary to determine a student's eligibility to receive title IV, HEA program assistance. The application process involves an applicant's submission of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®). After submission of the FAFSA, an applicant receives a Student Aid Report (SAR), which is a summary of the data they submitted on the FAFSA. The applicant reviews the SAR, and, if necessary, will make corrections or updates to their submitted FAFSA data. Institutions of higher education listed by the applicant on the FAFSA also receive a summary of processed data submitted on the FAFSA which is called the Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR). The Department seeks OMB approval of all application components as a single ''collection of information". The aggregate burden will be accounted for under OMB Control Number 1845-0001. The specific application components, descriptions and submission methods for each are listed in Table one.

Authorizing Statute(s): US Code: 20 USC 1090 Name of Law: Higher Education Act of 1965,
PL: Pub.L. 89 - 329 401-495

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

Federal Register Notices & Comments
60-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	81 FR 17452	03/29/2016
30-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	81 FR 16930	07/18/2016
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Previously Approved	Change Due to Adjustment in Estimate
Annual Number of Responses	38,669,924	40,135,807	-1,465,883
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	20,036,012	20,560,481	-524,469
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Increase Due to:

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: Two basic changes for the 2017-2018 FAFSA are generating reductions in responses and burden hours: The first change is to the 2017-2018 financial aid application cycle. The FAFSA will be available on October 1st of the year prior to the upcoming award year, better coinciding with the college admissions application and decision cycle. The more significant change from a burden reduction standpoint is: Beginning with the 2017-2018 cycle, FAFSA income information will be collected from one tax year earlier (referred to as “prior-prior"). This means that the 2017-2018 FAFSA will collect 2015 tax year income information - allowing most students to complete their FAFSA using tax information from an already completed tax return. This will provide most applicants with the ability to electronically transfer their income tax return information directly from the IRS into the FAFSA using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT). This is a major improvement over the current process where many applicants submit their FAFSA before tax returns have been completed, resulting in the need to estimate income and tax information that subsequently needs to be corrected once the tax return is filed, or waiting to complete their FAFSA until after the tax return has been filed. As a result of these changes, the Department is projecting an overall reduction in responses of 1,465,883 and an overall decrease of 524,469 burden hours for the 2017-2018 FAFSA. The decreases are primarily being driven by a reduction in preparation time, corrections submissions and SAR reviews attributed to the change to "prior-prior" for income information reporting.

Annual Cost to Federal Government:

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Is the Supporting Statement intended to be a Privacy Impact Assessment required by the E-Government Act of 2002? No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? Uncollected

Agency Contact: Michele Chambers 202 377-4532 michele.chambers@ed.gov

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