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Hassan, Shaheen, Kuster Urge Department of Education to Address FAFSA Rollout Issues

WASHINGTON – As the traditional May 1st “college decision day” approaches, U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), as well as U.S. Representative Annie Kuster (NH-02), joined U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in urging the Department of Education to address ongoing problems with the process that ensures timely financial aid to students in need. After Congress passed legislation to simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and update the eligibility formula to reflect today’s economic realities, there have been numerous operational missteps that need to be corrected speedily to minimize the impact on students considering going to college in the next academic year. Although the Department of Education has started to make adjustments to remedy these issues, more work is needed to ensure that students, families, and schools can get the information they need in a timely manner.

“We are supportive of the Department’s decision to make these adjustments in the updated form, but were disappointed to hear these adjustments would lead to even further delays in this year’s FAFSA processing…We write today to ask for more clarity on how the Department plans to communicate any further delays in FAFSA processing, and how the Department intends to minimize the potential impact on students and families so they can make the most informed decision possible about their futures, including through providing prompt, clear timelines,” wrote the Members.

  

Every year, about 17 million students fill out the FAFSA form as a first step to access the financial aid needed to cover the skyrocketing costs of higher education. In 2020, Congress passed the bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act to make the federal student financial aid process more efficient and straightforward. The FAFSA Simplification Act directed the Department to streamline the application form and make long overdue updates to the formulas that assess a students’ financial need. According to the Department, as a result of this law, the 2024-2025 FAFSA form will ensure that 610,000 more students from low-income backgrounds will be eligible to receive a federal Pell Grant and 1.5 million more students will be eligible to receive a maximum Pell award. 

However, operational glitches and delays in the rollout of this new version of the FAFSA form has left students and colleges in limbo and locked many families out of the process altogether. Senators Hassan and Shaheen sent a letter in December to Secretary Cardona urging the Department of Education to provide clear guidance and communication to students, families and educators. However, delays and errors from the Department have continued. This week’s letter calls on the Department to build upon the steps they have started to take to remedy this situation and provide increased clarity and support for students and schools. 

  

In the House, the letter was also led by Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member House Committee on Education & the Workforce. Also joining the letter were U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR). 

The full letter is available HERE and below: 

Dear Secretary Cardona:

We write today regarding the Department of Education’s (the Department) ongoing implementation of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. Each year, about 17 million students fill out the FAFSA form as a first step to accessing critical financial aid to help cover the skyrocketing costs of higher education.

In 2020, Congress passed the bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act to make the federal student financial aid process more efficient and straightforward. The FAFSA Simplification Act directed the Department to streamline the application form and make long overdue updates to the formulas that assess a students’ financial need. According to the Department, as a result of this law, the 2024-2025 FAFSA form will ensure 610,000 more students from low-income backgrounds will be eligible to receive a federal Pell Grant, and 1.5 million more students will be eligible to receive a maximum Pell award.

Implementation of these changes was a significant undertaking, one that the Department has had to do with less funding than it anticipated would be needed to complete the job correctly and on time. The Department released the new FAFSA form to the public, incrementally, beginning December 30th, 2023, nearly three months later than usual. But, in a sign of how pivotal the FAFSA is, to date, an estimated 3.6 million FAFSA forms have already been successfully submitted. Even though the newly released FAFSA form did not initially include legally mandated adjustments to the Income Protection Allowance (IPA), the Department’s recent corrective action to implement those adjustments will result in $1.8 billion in additional financial aid for students. We are supportive of the Department’s decision to make these adjustments in the updated form, but were disappointed to hear these adjustments would lead to even further delays in this year’s FAFSA processing.

Any delays in financial aid processing will most impact the students that need aid most, including many students of color, students from mixed status families, students from rural backgrounds, students experiencing homelessness or in foster care, first-generation students, and students from underserved communities. For institutions to support students’ ability to make informed decisions about their future, they need clear guidance and resources from the Department immediately on any and all next steps.

We were pleased to see the recent announcement of the Department’s plans to provide additional resources and supports for under-resourced high schools and colleges to assist their students with the FAFSA form, and to deploy federal staff to support aid efforts. We urge the Department to distribute these resources and tools to schools and institutions of higher education as quickly as possible, and to clearly communicate with stakeholders about the ways to access these resources and how these new resources will support students, families, and student aid administrators in submitting and processing the FAFSA form.

We write today to ask for more clarity on how the Department plans to communicate any further delays in FAFSA processing, and how the Department intends to minimize the potential impact on students and families so they can make the most informed decision possible about their futures, including through providing prompt, clear timelines.

We kindly request that the Department provide responses to the following set of questions:

  1. The Department has indicated it will send IPA-adjusted and finalized FAFSA data in early March, it is imperative that this data is sent to institutions as early in March as possible. On what date in March does the Department intend to send finalized information to relevant stakeholders? When will the Department disperse its test data to institutions of higher education so that they can test their infrastructure and best prepare to create financial aid packages for students? How and when will the Department communicate with relevant stakeholders if this intended plan changes?
  2. How is the Department communicating with relevant stakeholders, such as students, families, and college financial aid professionals, in a timely and culturally responsive manner about the ongoing FAFSA delay and ongoing issues for some students, including students from mixed status families, in submitting the form? How often will any supportive materials be updated to reflect the most up to date information, and how can stakeholders access this information?
  3. In light of the repeated delays in institutions receiving relevant aid information, as well as ongoing issues for some students in submitting the form, will the Department consider reducing the rate of students selected for additional verification to ensure students do not face further barriers to receiving the aid they are due?
  4. How is the Department working to ensure all under resourced high schools and colleges that need assistance in FAFSA processing are aware of and have access to the resources offered by the Department to assist them?
  5. Is the Department working with state aid agencies and other relevant stakeholders to ensure timely processing and delivery of other forms of financial aid such as scholarship or state aid for students?
  6. Will the Department ask states, and colleges and universities to relax any admissions or scholarship deadlines to ensure students have ample time to apply for additional aid and make informed decisions about their futures?
  7. Are any of the implementation challenges caused by the lack of resources? Detail whether there are specific requests that Congress can respond to in order to help address related issues moving forward.

The recent announcements from the Department were a welcome first step in addressing the many challenges students, counselors, aid administrators, and relevant stakeholders are facing in accessing, submitting, and processing the new FAFSA form. But now, it is imperative that we all work together to ensure no student falls through the cracks or faces unnecessary challenges in accessing the aid they are due.

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