Political Quotes

“Thank you. This is a FAFSA. You may say that nobody knows what that is. Well, 20 million American families know what this is because 20 million American families fill this out every single year. If you want a Federal loan to help you go to college or if you want a Pell grant that you don't have to pay back--60 percent of the 20 million students who go to college receive a Federal loan or grant--to do that they first must fill out this Federal student aid application form. In our first hearing on this subject in 2013--I can remember it as if it were yesterday--we had four excellent witnesses who came from different parts of the country, with different directions. They weren't all singing the same song. One of them was Kim Cook from the National College Access Network. She said that simplifying the FAFSA would encourage as many as 2 million more Americans to go to college and make it more affordable for them. In our State of Tennessee, we became the first--thanks to the leadership of Governor Bill Haslam in our State legislature--to make 2 years of college tuition-free for high school graduates and now for adults as well. But in order to get the money from the State to make your tuition free, you first have to fill out this FAFSA. Those who help students file FAFSA at the community colleges and in the high schools tell me that it is the single biggest impediment for low-income Tennesseans to have a chance to go to college.…”