Washington — The Bush administration has been urging the simplification of the common form through which college students apply for financial aid, saying the current process is too complicated.

The departing president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, Dallas Martin, isn’t so sure.

In his final speech as president at the association’s annual conference here today, Mr. Martin said too many families could afford to pay more of their children’s college costs, if only they did a better job of saving their money.

Mr. Martin said he could support some simplification of the federal government’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or Fafsa. Such a step should be taken, however, only for families that already have demonstrated their eligibility for other types of government assistance, he said.

Too many families try to claim a need for student aid when their circumstances may not warrant it, Mr. Martin added.

“I talk to families that make good incomes, but talk to me like, ‘Well, I’m entitled to have these dollars to go to school,’” he said.

“And I’m sitting there saying, ‘You’ve done pretty well, you’ve got what you need, I see a lot of people that need help far more than you do,’” he said. “‘Now if you’d been a little more responsible, taken care of yourself a little bit, saved a few dollars, then you wouldn’t need this handout.’” —Paul Basken