As national leaders prepare for a summit on higher education’s future, congressional Democrats and the Bush administration are vying for the spotlight in an effort to simplify the bulky Free Application for Federal Student Aid used by low-income students.

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings yesterday unveiled plans for the “FAFSA4caster,” a Web-based tool to provide students and families with estimates of eligibility for Pell Grants and other aid long before high school graduation. In unveiling the initiative, department officials also said they are testing a system through which students without Internet access may complete the FAFSA over the phone.

There is a “crying need” to simplify the application process, Spellings said in a conference call Wednesday. Of the new Web-based application, she said, “This is a tool that will be used by millions of families. It will be a timesaver for them.”

The Education Department plans to launch the new forecaster on April 1 at www.federalstudentaid.ed.gov, with a Spanish-language version available April 29. In addition to forecasting Pell eligibility based on family financial data, the system can help families determine their expected contribution to college costs.

The announcement came just a day after congressional Democrats unveiled their own simplification plan. The College Aid Made EZ Act would shrink the FAFSA from five pages down to two, in part through new links between the Education Department and the Internal Revenue Service to capture already available data.

“Multibillion dollar corporations fill out 13-question forms to receive million dollar Export-Import Bank loans,” said U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill. “Shouldn’t it be just as easy for high school seniors and their families to pay for college?”

The Democrats’ bill also would emphasize early awareness, with a pre-FAFSA available to high school juniors so they can get additional information to plan for college.