H.R. 5528 would reserve $3 million from funding for the Department of Education to implement changes to the application process for federal student aid. Those changes would include developing and testing a version of the application for mobile devices and continuing to develop the data retrieval system that allows students to pre-populate the online application with data from the Internal Revenue Service.
CBO estimates that implementing the additional administrative requirements in H.R. 5528 would cost $3 million over the 2017-2021 period; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Enacting the bill could increase applications for federal student aid, which would increase discretionary spending for Pell grants and direct spending for student loans and Pell grants; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that those effects would be insignificant for each year and over the 2017-2026 period. Enacting H.R. 5528 would not affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 5528 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
H.R. 5528 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
