Watchdog is probing Education Dept’s FAFSA delays, Cassidy says

A Congressional watchdog has launched an inquiry into the Biden administration’s delayed rollout of the new federal financial aid application, according to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.).

Cassidy, the top GOP member of the Senate education committee, said Thursday that the Government Accountability Office had agreed to Republicans’ request for an investigation into the Education Department’s handling of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The administration’s rollout of the new FAFSA has been plagued by repeated delays and hiccups over the new formula for calculating eligibility for student aid. The Education Department earlier this week announced it wouldn’t be able to begin sending to colleges key FAFSA data that they need to generate students’ financial aid packages until the “first half of March.”

The revamped FAFSA was passed by Congress in 2020 and initially intended to be ready by the 2023-24 school year. At the Biden administration’s request, Congress subsequently passed a one-year extension, requiring the new form to be ready for the coming 2024-25 school year.

Colleges and universities have indicated the repeated processing delays will likely upend their admissions and financial aid timelines this spring. Higher education and college access groups have called on institutions to consider postponing deadlines because many families will be receiving financial aid packages later than expected.

Republicans on Thursday ramped up their criticism of the Education Department’s management of the FAFSA. They rolled out a new website to solicit stories from students and families about problems they’re facing with the FAFSA.

“This is a clear failing of the Department of Education,” Cassidy told reporters, accusing the Biden administration of prioritizing its loan forgiveness agenda over the smooth operation of the federal financial aid application.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the top Republican on the appropriations subcommittee overseeing education funding, dismissed concerns that the FAFSA problems stemmed from a lack of appropriate resources for the Education Department.

“This is a matter of setting priorities, using your money wisely,” Capito said.

An Education Department official told reporters earlier this week that a range of projects — overhauling the FAFSA, restarting student loan payments and implementing new loan servicing contracts — all “have substantially higher costs” for the agency to implement.

“We are certainly working under very substantial workload demand created by Congress without additional resources that we requested to meet that workload,” the official said.