HOPE (Heightening Opportunities for Pathways to Education) for FAFSA Act
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Sep 9, 2019
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.
Source last updated: Jul 21, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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