30.2

35.8

FIGURE 8

(1976-77)

34.0

NOTE:

Student may list two schools to which Basic Grants will send results of processing the application.

Student's level of postsecondary education for the 1978-79 academic year; first through fifth years of undergraduate study.

Three questions used to determine
if student is independent of parents;
see further discussion below.

The following items will be collected for the parent or the
applicant, depending on whether the applicant is dependent

STATEMENT OF LEO KORNFELD, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION FOR STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, OFFICE OF EDUCATION

Mr. KORNFELD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me if I may briefly summarize the written testimony which we submitted to the committee and before I get into the major points covered in the testimony, just as backdrop I would briefly describe the BEOG program as indicating its growth as of 1977-78. I think it is interesting to see the tremendous growth and impact this program has in fact had throughout the country. First as you may know in 1973-74 which was the first year of the program the dollar expenditures for the program was $50 million. In 1977-78 we are talking about $1.7 billion program. In 1973-74, we had 480,000 applicants. In 1977-78 we talk about 4.1 million applicants. In 1973-74 we had about 185,000 recipients. In 1977-78 we talk about 2 million recipients. In 1973-74 the average award was $269 with maximum being $452. 1977-78 we talk about a program where the average award was $848 and maximum was $1,400. Another interesting aspect of the program is that in 1977-78, 46 percent of all the eligible applicants came from families where the gross income was under $4,500; 78 percent of all eligible applicants came from families where the gross income was under $9,000.

Although this is not a conclusive statistic it certainly clearly indicates that the program had to have a major impact on permitting people from families of that low income, giving them an opportunity to attend schools which certainly indicates that the program has made a major contribution in the educational scene.

Four major subjects are included in our written testimony. The first is multiple data entry. As you know in the past there were various agencies that assisted institutions by providing need analysis for students enrolled in these institutions. In the past what occurred is that, in addition to students filling out the form for the particular institution that might be using a particular major need analysis service, they also had to fill out a specific basic grant form for the Office of Education.

As a result of a cooperative effort between the financial aid community and the Office of Education, next year, for example, we will be in a position by having a "common" calendar and approximately 2.5 million students will not have to file a separate basic grant form. The way the system will work in the future is we will be extracting from the forms that the service agencies use, the data we need for determining basic grant purposes and thereby eliminating the necessity for the student filling out another form for the U.S. Government.

Our objective here is clearly some day-and perhaps it is just a wish at this point-but some day we would like to get in a position where there is a single form for determining need, used throughout the country and a single report that the institution has to provide. This is the first step in that direction.

The reason this gets mentioned at this particular hearing is that in order to work with the service agencies it is very important that we resolve as soon as possible the common data elements and we would appreciate the expeditious decision on the part of your committee.