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Diving overview:
- More than two dozen Republican lawmakers have called on government watchdogs to investigate the U.S. Department of Education's release of an updated Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
- The Department of Education launched the simplified FAFSA on December 30, just two days before the deadline set by Congress. But technical difficulties and changes in support methods have both politicians and higher education leaders worried about further delays.
- in wednesday letter Lawmakers, led by Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to address the issues students and institutions face during this implementation and what the Department of Education is doing to prevent them. I asked you to investigate. The problem of moving on to the next cycle.
Dive Insights:
Lawmakers who intended the Simplified FAFSA include: get a reprieve We used the original form, which contained over 100 questions and caused frustration for students and their families. The new form only has a few dozen questions.
But when the Department for Education rolled out the update in December, it branded the rollout a soft launch and initially made the forms available to the public. at short intervals.
The FAFSA typically opens in early October, and the delayed release has shortened the timeline for colleges to provide financial aid. These problems will get worse now that the agency has said it will not send applicant data to colleges until the end of January.
“Due to delays in education, it is unclear when college administrators will finally receive the information necessary to determine financial aid packages from a student's FAFSA,” the letter states. “Some colleges may not be able to adhere to their normal timelines for providing financial aid offers to students, which may leave students without time to compare offers and select affordable schools.”
The group also asked how the Department of Education informed students about completing the new FAFSA and what guidance it provided on implementing changes to colleges' financial aid processes.
“Early feedback from students and schools indicates that the Department for Education’s current outreach efforts are inadequate,” they said.
Just this week the Department for Education confirmed that would be the case. FAFSA application calculation changes Mid-cycle, taking inflation into account. The move will distribute $1.8 billion more in federal student aid to students, according to a department spokesperson.
Kim Cook, CEO of the National College Attainment Network, praised the change but worried about how it would affect financial aid timelines.
“We need more details about when and how this update will be released, as there may be further delays in the delivery of FAFSA data to colleges and states that expect to receive applicant data by the end of January,” Cook said. In a statement Wednesday:.