Congress pressures education officials after FAFSA delays
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – There are only three months until the start of fall classes, but many high school seniors still do not know where they are going to college due to the federal government's botched rollout of the new FAFSA form.
Many applicants are waiting to receive their financial aid offers.
"The department has to get this right and fast," said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, (D-Wis.).
"The rollout of the better FAFSA has been riddled with delays and challenges," said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
Cardona told a Senate committee the new FAFSA form was supposed to be shorter and simpler, but processing errors and other issues have caused successful applications to be down about 30% from this time last year.
"We're doing everything every day to make it right," he said.
Cardona said the department is making progress. Officials said the form is fixed, and more than eight million student applications have been processed and sent to colleges.
But U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, (R-La.) argues the damage is already done.
"Some students will decide not to go to school because they don't know if they can afford it," Cassidy said.
Cassidy said those enrollment decisions would also pose a major threat to colleges.
"The cashflow problem will be very real," he said.
Republicans recently requested an investigation into the rollout and last week, the official who oversaw the FAFSA update announced he is stepping down next month.
The department expects the new FAFSA application to ultimately provide financial aid opportunities for an additional 600,000 students.
"That's a huge difference for the potential of our country and the potential of our students," Cardona said.