Washington, D.C. – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced the bipartisan Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act to amend the FAFSA Simplification Act and restore the original exemption of all farmland, machinery, other operational materials, and small businesses with fewer than 100 employees from being declared on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. The legislation reverses changes to the FAFSA process that could reduce or eliminate access to need-based student aid for farm families and small business owners. Congressman Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“From Colorado to Iowa, federal financial aid helps ensure more students can afford college – including students from farm families, whose businesses are vital to our communities and economies,” said Bennet. “Our bipartisan bill will help ensure these students receive the financial aid they need.”
“No one should have to sell off the farm – or their small business – to afford college,” said Ernst. “As a farm kid myself, I know the enormous impacts grants and financial aid have on rural students’ decision to go to college. I’m fighting for Iowa families, so unfair policies don’t hold them back from investing in their child’s education.”
“Across Kansas’ Big First District and the country, net farm income has decreased by nearly 25% since 2022,” said Mann. “Between navigating record-levels of inflation and skyrocketing input costs, our family farmers, ranchers, agricultural producers, and small business owners are doing their best to make an honest living. When young people from these families are applying for higher education financial aid, the assets tied up in the family farm or the small business should not count against them. Congress should work to make life easier, not harder, for these dedicated families and students. My bill evens the playing field for these students and families, while protecting the American dream for every student regardless of their parents’ career ventures.”
The expected family contribution – calculated from information taken from the FAFSA form – did not include farm or small business assets under the previous contribution formula. Under the new formula, the student aid index will include those assets, drastically increasing the amount a family may be required to pay for college. Treating family farms and small businesses as assets may reflect a family’s wealth far above their true income resulting in some families not receiving adequate financial aid.
Bennet has consistently pushed the Department of Education (DOE) to simplify the FAFSA form to make it easier for students to apply for federal financial aid so that more students would enroll, stay in school, and graduate. In 2014, Bennet introduced the Financial Aid Simplification and Transparency (FAST) Act with U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to reduce the number of FAFSA questions from 108 to 2 and simplify the process. Several of the bill’s measures passed in the 2020 FAFSA Simplification Act. Last year, Bennet led a letter to DOE urging officials to provide specific guidance to farm families ahead of implementation of the new FAFSA form. He also joined several bipartisan colleagues to urge DOE to provide clear guidance and communication to students, families, educators, college access counselors, and schools leading up to and after the release of the new form. In February, Bennet and 108 colleagues wrote to DOE to address delays and operational issues with the new FAFSA.