Application delays and a sharp decline in the number of applications have disrupted the Department of Education's system for distributing federal student aid. In a conference call with reporters late Monday, the education secretary said. miguel cardona He said the university is taking steps to help prepare the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as efficiently as possible.
“The department's top priority is to ensure that students receive the greatest amount of financial aid possible to pursue their higher education goals and enable more Americans to attend college.” Cardona said.
The new, simplified FAFSA form was released in January, but parents and students reported frequent problems with the web-based system. As a result, only about 676,000 high school seniors had filed the FAFSA by the end of January, less than half the number who applied during the same period last year, according to the National College Attainment Network.
Cardona said as of Feb. 12, about 4 million FAFSA applications had been processed, including for high school and college students.
SIU announced just last week that FAFSA information would not be available to current and prospective students until March, when the details would normally have been released months in advance. Without information, students don't know how much financial aid they can expect, which affects their decisions about which school to attend and whether it's even possible at all.
The SIU Office of Financial Aid said in an email that it hopes to announce aid awards by late March or early April.
“We recognize the importance of providing timely financial aid information as we prepare for the upcoming academic year. “We are working diligently to complete financial aid offers as quickly as possible,” the email said.
The new FAFSA form was designed to be simpler, with 50 questions instead of the usual 100. The website did not go online until December 31, 2023, the last day it could legally go online.
New measures taken by the Department of Education include significantly reducing verification requirements, while also taking steps to avoid identifying fraud. Suspend review of new regular programs until June 2024. Provides additional flexibility for recertification by universities. Providing concierge services to under-resourced schools. Makes $50 million in federal funds available to nonprofit financial aid services. We plan to deliver test records to schools by the end of this week so they can check their systems.
Cardona said the goal is for schools to spend less time filling out paperwork and more time providing students with the help they need.
“These are concrete measures” based on dialogue with universities, parents and students, he said.
“We are committed to a better FAFSA,” Cardona said.
