In stop-the-presses! news today, a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research confirmed that getting assistance with filling out the complicated FAFSA was a significant motivator to low- and moderate-income Americans considering going to college but a little daunted by the idea. The positive results of the study were interpreted as another strong case for simplifying the FAFSA for all aspiring college students.

Please pardon us if we sound smart-alecky, but… no kidding! At something like 30 online screens and more than 120 questions, the current FAFSA is an intimidating form to most people. In fact, it has almost 30 more questions about student and family finances than the federal income tax form has!

The latest Department of Education estimates suggest that between one and two million college students a year who would likely qualify for federal financial aid don’t apply for it, and the Institute for College Access & Success has pointed out that colleges spend well over $400 million a year just trying to verify information applicants do provide. Simplifying the FASA has been a financial aid reform recommended by just about everyone involved in higher education.

The creative and persuasive study released today featured an experiment in which H&R Block tax preparers helped a number of low- and moderate-income students fill out the FAFSA using their existing IRS information. The tax preparers tested software that automatically copied income and other financial information from a potential student’s tax return directly over to matching questions in the FAFSA, and helped the student wade through the tedious remaining questions. Once the FAFSA was complete, the software calculated an immediate estimate of how much federal financial aid the student was likely to get.

Together, the simplified, computerized process of auto-filling the required financial information and the immediate feedback about a likely financial aid amount dramatically increased students’ confidence in applying for federal student aid and enrolling in college.

Having been based on the theory that the time-consuming, confusing form is a barrier to many deserving students, the entire experiment was hailed as another strong case for simplifying the FAFSA: Computerize as much information as possible, simplify the language of the rest, and provide immediate feedback about financial aid eligibility.

The FAFSA is already undergoing changes for the 2010-2011 school year. The instant estimates of financial aid are in place, a wide variety of unnecessary questions are being eliminated, the form will automatically skip over whole sections based on yes/no answers to certain questions, and financial information may be brought over from tax returns.

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman says, “When you’re online filling out the FAFSA, there’ll be a button that says, ‘Want to go get your IRS data?’”

It’s not necessarily true that college is for everyone. And it’s not always in a student’s best interest to go to college no matter what the cost or how huge the student loans.

But it also isn’t right that students who could go and would go and should go be held back solely by discouraging, brain-frying paperwork. Even the H&R Block folks agreed they helped build another strong case for simplifying the FAFSA.