FAFSA Simplification Faces Scrutiny At Capitol Hill

After a few months of uncertainty from students and schools alike, the new FAFSA Simplification Act came under fire from lawmakers and student financial aid experts at a congressional hearing early last week. 

The rollout of this new process has been plagued with technical errors, prompting delays in student financial aid offices across the country. The House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development gathered financial experts and administration from some of the institutions affected to hear how this process has impacted students firsthand. 

Notably, however, this testimony included no actual student accounts. 

Those who did testify before the subcommittee included Kim Cook, chief executive officer of the National College Attainment Network, Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, and Rachelle Feldman, who serves as vice provost of enrollment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“About 30% fewer FAFSA forms have been submitted by high school seniors this year. Exacerbated in low-income communities by 7% and 6% in schools with diverse student bodies,” said Kim Cook, chief executive officer of the NCAN. 

Experts answered questions fielded by Republican and Democrat lawmakers alike, who expressed their frustrations with these difficulties, promising there would be more hearings in the future – however with seemingly different agendas in mind. 

When asked about how the Department of Education should be held accountable for these shortcomings, Draeger said, “I have yet to hear any sort of apologies from the Department of Education, not even to schools, but to students and their families. We are 6 months delayed from where the FAFSA should have been released, there have been entire swaths of students who have not been able to complete that.” 

In his concluding statement, Republican chair of the Higher Education Subcommittee, Representative Burgess Owens called the existence of the Department of Education into question entirely.

“Over the last three years, leaders in the Department of Education have brought pure chaos to students seeking an education and to institutions whose mandate it is to provide an education,” Burgess expressed. “Leadership in the department has been distracted, undisciplined and arrogant.”

When asked to give the Biden Administration and the Department of Education a grade on this rollout, Draeger gave it an F, Cook gave it a C, and Feldman gave it a D, for ‘disappointing.’ 

In a new statement released by the Department of Education, they said, “To date, as many as 16% of FAFSA applications require a student correction,” and that “Approximately 30% of FAFSA forms are potentially affected by known processing or data errors.” 

The Education Department said they are currently in the process of reprocessing applications that have either been affected by data errors or require student correction but that the majority of applications affected by incorrect tax data from the IRS will take longer and be sent to schools by May 1. However, the statement says they will keep everyone updated on the process, indicating this could be delayed.

Looking towards the future, the issue of next year’s FAFSA form was raised, as usually the first draft of the form is issued by now for review in time for it to be released on the normal October schedule. 

“I lack confidence that they aren’t going to have to delay the FAFSA,” said financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz.

Elmhurst University students who are already worried about the outcomes of this year’s FAFSA haven’t even taken time to consider the implications this could have for the years to come.

Junior Jade Villalobos works giving tours to incoming EU students and commented on parents’ worries.

“I already had parents express concerns about committing on May 1st,” Villalobos said. “They don’t even know if they can afford their kid’s college because of FAFSA’s fiasco.”

Only time will tell how these issues are resolved, but for now, everyone affected has no choice but to rely on the Department of Education to fulfill their promises by May 1.