"The notion that the complexity of the process by which would-be college students apply for and receive federal financial assistance deters some young people from higher education has become firmly established and widely embraced in the last few years," Inside Higher Ed reports. "Perhaps with that in mind, Sara Martinez Tucker, the U.S. under secretary of education, will formally present to Congress this week the department's plan for creating what she calls a 'rational approach to federal student aid.' The proposal, which both Tucker and Spellings have previewed in recent months, would, among other things, reduce the Free Application for Federal Student Aid to two pages and fewer than 30 questions; consolidate numerous federal grant, loan and other programs into the Pell Grant Program, subsidized and unsubsidized loan programs and one work study program; and determine the amount of aid a student would receive not based on how his or her financial situation aligns with the cost of attendance at his or her college of choice, but on the relationship between the average cost of attendance at a two-year public college and the adjusted gross income and tax exemptions of the student or his or her family."