By Megan Walter, Senior Policy Analyst

Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Wednesday introduced the Improving Financial Aid Offers for Students Act. The legislation, endorsed by NASFAA, would represent a comprehensive federal effort to standardize the information included in financial aid offers if it is ultimately enacted into law.

Unlike earlier versions of this legislation, originally titled the Understanding the True Cost of College Act, which would have required a single mandated federal form, this newest iteration reflects a significant overhaul in substance and name, requiring only standardized terminology and specific content elements, while allowing institutions to maintain their own format or use a federal model form developed by the Department of Education (ED).

Rather than requiring institutions to adopt a uniform template, the bill requires all institutions participating in the Title IV programs to use standardized terminology and to include specific information presented in a specific order and structure. ED must develop both the terminology and a model form through consultation with institutions, students, consumer groups, financial aid administrators, counselors, and relevant federal agencies. Institutions may use the model form, but they are not required to do so. However, regardless of format [i.e., paper, email, portal], every financial aid offer must comply with the statutory content requirements and terminology standards.

The legislation requires financial aid offers to present information in a clear, consistent order. Costs must be listed first, followed by grants and scholarships, then net price, and finally loans, with each category clearly separated and labeled.

Institutions must first disclose the student’s estimated cost of attendance and clearly distinguish between direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include tuition and fees, as well as institutionally billed housing and food if applicable. Indirect costs may include off-campus living expenses, books and supplies, transportation, and other non-billed expenses. The offer must identify the academic period covered, indicate whether estimates are based on full-time or part-time enrollment, and state whether tuition figures are final or estimated. Institutions must also explain that indirect costs are estimates and that actual expenses may vary.

Grant aid must be grouped together and differentiated by source: federal, state, institutional, and outside aid, if known, and clearly labeled as not requiring repayment. If institutional aid is offered, institutions must disclose the renewal conditions and explain whether outside scholarships could reduce the amount of the institutional grant.

The net price must be calculated as cost of attendance minus total grant and scholarship assistance, and must include a disclosure explaining that the figure represents estimated yearly expenses rather than the amount owed directly to the institution. The bill also restricts institutions from presenting alternative net price calculations outside the statutory definition, to prevent them from subtracting the amount of loans or other aid that must be repaid from the final estimated yearly expense.

For institutions that package federal Direct Loans, the word “loan” must be used clearly in the fund title, and subsidized and unsubsidized loans must be labeled separately. The offer must disclose that loans must be repaid, explain that students may borrow less (or more if eligible), provide a link to ED’s repayment calculator, and disclose that interest rates and fees change annually and affect long-term cost. PLUS loans and private loans cannot be listed as estimated dollar amounts unless they have already been requested and approved.

Lastly, institutions must explain how students accept, adjust, or decline aid, provide payment timing information for billed costs, warn students about possible FAFSA verification, and include financial aid office contact information.

The bill permits institutions to provide required information through links to supplemental resources, except for core financial figures such as costs, grants, and net price, which must appear directly on the offer.

The legislation also preserves flexibility for institutions to tailor aid offers to individual students. Schools may include additional explanatory information alongside the offer, as long as it uses the standardized terminology and does not misrepresent costs or aid. At the same time, institutions are permitted to remove items that are not relevant, for example, if a student is ineligible for a program, the institution does not participate in it, or a particular cost category does not apply.

The bill also includes some consumer protection provisions, including that financial aid offers cannot be labeled as an “award,” and institutions must separate subtotals for grants, loans, and work-study so aid categories are not combined. If private loans are referenced, the offer must instruct students to consider federal loans first and explain that they generally offer more flexible repayment protections. For dependent students, any mention of private loans must also include Parent PLUS information and note increased unsubsidized eligibility if a parent is denied PLUS.

Beyond the aid offer itself, the legislation requires institutions to use ED’s standardized terminology in all financial aid communications, regardless of medium. This means terminology rules would apply not only to official offers but also to portals, emails, and other institutional communications discussing financial aid.

The bill would also create a new transparency mechanism by requiring institutions to submit an example of their financial aid offers annually to ED, excluding any pricing or personally identifiable information. The department must then publish these sample aid offers publicly. The intent is to allow students, families, policymakers, and researchers to compare institutional practices.

While the core College Cost Transparency Initiative (CCTI) standards are reflected in the legislation, providing partner institutions with a strong foundation and a head start toward compliance, the Improving Financial Aid Offers for Students Act includes additional requirements that go beyond the CCTI. To meet the new bill's requirements, CCTI-aligned schools would likely need to adopt standardized federal terminology across all financial aid communications, present aid information in the prescribed order, add certain disclosures, and ensure their aid offer templates are submitted for public posting.

If passed into law, the requirements would become effective with the first FAFSA cycle that begins at least one year after the Secretary finalizes the terminology and model form. The proposal is still in the early stages of the legislative process and must advance through Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee consideration before being taken up by the full Senate and House of Representatives, where both chambers would need to pass identical legislation before it could be sent to the president for signature. 

Stay tuned to Today’s News for more information as it becomes available.

Publication Date: 4/30/2026

Comments Disclaimer: NASFAA welcomes and encourages readers to comment and engage in respectful conversation about the content posted here. We value thoughtful, polite, and concise comments that reflect a variety of views. Comments are not moderated by NASFAA but are reviewed periodically by staff. Users should not expect real-time responses from NASFAA. To learn more, please view NASFAA’s complete Comments Policy.