High school seniors are facing unprecedented delays in finding out how much financial aid they will be provided to pay for college, thanks to multiple glitches in a new federal form that Republicans say were exacerbated by President Biden’s massive loan forgiveness program.
The Education Department launched a revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, that was aimed at simplifying the process.
The December rollout, two months later than usual for FAFSA applicants, was riddled with problems and failed to include a critical tool to account for inflation.
As a result, many students must delay decisions about where they will attend college. Schools need the FAFSA fixes to calculate how much aid the students would receive.
Education Department officials blame the delays and glitches partly on inadequate funding to administer the program and say they are taking steps to expedite the processing.
House and Senate Republicans say Mr. Biden’s loan forgiveness plan has diverted Education Department staff from implementing the critical FAFSA reforms mandated in 2021 bipartisan legislation.
“In the last three years, the Biden administration’s Department of Education has put considerable time and resources to prioritize their student loan schemes,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee. “But they’ve been unable to fulfill their basic responsibilities mandated by Congress and essential to American families.”
Mr. Cassidy announced that the Government Accountability Office has been investigating the Department of Education’s “incompetent mishandling” of the FAFSA rollout.
Across the Capitol, House lawmakers have initiated an investigation into how much time and money the Education Department has diverted to Mr. Biden’s student loan relief efforts at the expense of administering the critical FAFSA program.
“The Department had plenty of time to prepare for the FAFSA rollout,” said Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Republican and chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. “Instead, it zealously and recklessly pursued an illegal student loan scheme. The Department’s actions have had real consequences. Students are hurting — especially low-income students who are most dependent on federal aid.”
Mr. Biden has made student loan forgiveness a top priority as he gears up his campaign for reelection with shrinking support among young voters.
Last week, the Biden administration emailed more than 150,000 borrowers to inform them that his administration had canceled their student loan debt under an expansion of the income-driven repayment program known as SAVE, which the Education Department administers.
The Education Department was tasked with creating the program and launching a “nationwide outreach campaign to support borrowers by ensuring they take full advantage of the benefits provided by the SAVE plan in addition to the existing resources and debt forgiveness programs available from the Department.”
So far, the Education Department has helped 4 million borrowers escape $140 million in student loan debt despite staunch opposition from Republicans and a Supreme Court ruling last summer that struck down Mr. Biden’s broader effort to cancel student loan debt.
The department, meanwhile, has left aspiring college students who need financial aid in the lurch. New applicant information won’t be available to colleges and universities until mid-March at the earliest.
Prospective students may not receive financial aid offers until sometime in May instead of early April.
“This problematic rollout is causing more than just an administrative headache. For students — and even schools themselves — the ripple effect could be catastrophic,” said a joint statement by Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, and Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education.
Stressed-out parents and students have been flummoxed by error messages and an inability to access their online FAFSA forms.
Education Department officials made some quick fixes, including a temporary workaround to allow illegal immigrants without Social Security numbers to apply for financial aid for their U.S.-born children.
Immigrant rights advocates bemoaned the bungle but said the department’s workaround heartened them.
“Parents’ legal status should not affect the receipt of financial aid packages for eligible students,” said Rep. Nanette Barragan, California Democrat and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. “Tens of thousands of U.S. citizen students and families, many of them Latino, have been put at risk of not meeting college deadlines for financial aid determinations because of a glitch in the new FAFSA form.”
Parents and students have been largely left in the dark about when colleges will send their FAFSA information so they can find out how much aid they would receive and subsequently finalize a college choice.
“We are at the mercy of the Department of Education and they are not sharing this additional information with families,” one frustrated parent lamented on a FAFSA Facebook message group.
Earlier this month, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the department is speeding up the FAFSA application process by reducing verification requirements and suspending routine program reviews to confirm colleges meet the requirements for financial aid eligibility.
“We are determined to drive a constant drumbeat of action to fulfill the transformational potential of the Better FAFSA,” Mr. Cardona said.
The department announced that nearly 4 million FAFSA forms have been successfully submitted.
Ms. Foxx was not impressed by the applicant numbers. She pointed out that 18 million students yearly typically fill out the FAFSA form.
“That’s 20% — a failing grade in any classroom,” said Ms. Foxx, a former college professor.
She called the department’s implementation of the program “outrageously incompetent” and pledged to “hold the department accountable.”
In a letter to Mr. Cardona, Ms. Foxx requested information about the reallocation of salaries, expenses and other funding to administer Mr. Biden’s student loan cancellation initiatives. She is also seeking documents and communications between Education Department staff related to the botched FAFSA rollout and the decision to move the deadline for sending information to colleges from January to the first half of March.
“It seems the Department’s failed FAFSA implementation is at least in part due to the time and attention it gave to judicially unsanctioned and politically expedient cancellation plans,” she wrote to Mr. Cardona. “The net result is students struggling to plan their postsecondary education because of the delays and related problems.”
• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.