Need financial aid but dread the forms? New app is ‘much easier,’ WA Sen. Murray says
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray wants you — yes, you — to fill out the new FAFSA.
The Washington Democrat negotiated an act in 2020 meant to simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The law is geared toward boosting financial-aid eligibility and streamlining a process that many complained about or skipped because it was complex and difficult.
Last year’s rollout of the updated FAFSA was mired in technical glitches and delays. Some students just gave up. Submissions among first-time applicants were down about 9% as of August, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
The form for the 2025-26 school year recently opened for applications and is largely receiving positive reviews. This time around, Murray says, the kinks have been ironed out.
“Everyone has said it is so much easier to do, and have just felt really relieved,” she told McClatchy.
The number of questions on the form has shrunk dramatically: from 103 questions to only 18 to 20, the senator said. The application also now takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
The FAFSA Simplification Act stands to assist plenty of students in the Evergreen State.
In Washington, students in the class of 2023 left more than $65 million in Pell grant awards on the table by not finishing a FAFSA form, according to the National College Attainment Network. The state has ranked among the bottom five in the percentage of U.S. high school seniors who have completed the application.
Murray said she wouldn’t be sitting in Congress’s upper chamber today if she had not had access to student aid.
“So to me, the more people we can help who otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to do it, the more people can be successful in their own lives,” she said. “And I want that for people.”
Murray noted that 12.5% more Washington students will now be eligible for Pell grants. The senator, who serves as chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, said she’s “constantly working on” ensuring that enough money is allocated so that more students can qualify for assistance.
In Murray’s view, having more opportunities for more education is beneficial — both for the student and the nation at large.
“Everything we do to help students further their education and get the skills they need, helps them and all of us,” she said.
United Way shares Murray’s mission
It’s a point echoed by Chris Wells, executive director of United Way of Thurston County. Wells told McClatchy that the FAFSA completion rates aren’t great in the state, and the same is true for Thurston County.
To help break down barriers, United Way of Thurston County started an initiative to place career and resource navigators in local high schools, Wells said; the effort fully launched in 2022. Navigators have helped students and families with the FAFSA and offered guidance on other post-secondary options.
“We’ve had an enormous amount of success in terms of the increase in FAFSA completion rates,” she said.
Some young people are less likely than others to complete the FAFSA, including students of color, those who are LGBTQ+ and first-generation students, Wells said. It’s key to connect with those kids and their families to ensure higher FAFSA completion rates and to help boost diversity in post-secondary pursuits.
Post-secondary credentials make a big difference in a person’s economic trajectory, Wells said. Over the course of their working life, people who head straight to the workforce after high school earn between $750,000 and $1 million less than their credentialed counterparts.
“So it’s a really, really, really big deal to get students to go on to some pursuit beyond high school,” Wells said.
Murray believes that everyone should complete the new FAFSA form.
“Don’t preclude yourself and think you earn too much or your family earns too much,” the senator said. “Fill out the form and open a door for yourself.”
.jpg)