Earlier this year, the Department of Education announced what objectively appears to be good news.
Millions of college financial aid forms, commonly referred to as the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), have been successfully submitted, the agency said in a Jan. 30 announcement. . Federal officials also announced that the aid calculation had been “updated as follows.” “We will make it as easy and simple as possible for families to receive help to pay for college,” the agency said.
But the fifth paragraph of the bulletin contained troubling information. The university said he would not receive student financial aid data until early March, leaving him more than a month behind the government's promise.
This is the first time the agency has acknowledged the setback, creating another rift in the process of providing financial aid to universities and students. It was found that many schools did not have sufficient access to the records they needed until the end of March.
Moreover, the “update” that the department touted as a victory was actually a fix for a larger problem. Government agencies didn't take inflation into account when calculating the numbers for how much millions of families could afford to pay for college next year. Amid increased scrutiny, officials changed course. The January announcement was part of that reset.
But some have accused authorities of spreading a “false positive narrative” due to the dissonance between the department's seemingly rosy notice and the reality facing students. Critics say the federal government's unclear messaging is overshadowing one of the most important higher education reforms in decades.
“It's hard to believe anything the department says now,” said David Sheridan, director of financial aid at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
read more:Office of College Education: I don't have time to process FAFSA information.
Widespread dissatisfaction with information coming out of the Department of Education has only grown in recent months, undermining Washington state's relationship with colleges, high school guidance counselors and the students they serve.
Even some employees at the Office of Federal Student Aid, the Department of Education division that oversees the FAFSA, were outraged by their superiors' response to the development, according to two agency officials who were not authorized to speak publicly. told USA TODAY.
And the problem is still not resolved. On Monday, the agency revealed Another series of applications also failed, leaving hundreds of thousands of students without financial aid. Officials have promised to reprocess these applications by mid-April, effectively guaranteeing further delays for some.
The department also underestimated the amount that about 500,000 students would have for college costs next fall. It remains to be seen whether some schools stymied by the penalties will ask the government to recalculate these figures.
Meanwhile, the number of FAFSA applications is down about a third compared to last year, meaning colleges across the country may be on the brink of an admissions nightmare. ing.
The mood among university officials is gloomy.
“The new FAFSA rollout is plagued by issues of broken trust, data integrity, and delayed deadlines,” Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said in a statement Tuesday.
read more:Millions of students may have just weeks to compare college financial aid offers
When the government gives money to students to help pay for college, it doesn't just get passed around. The financial aid process is full of obstacles. Special staff at universities and high schools have a special mission to help students overcome these barriers. In this difficult year, it is clearer than ever that vast numbers of people stand between students and the government employees who shape their lives.
This disruption has only increased students' dependence on the middle class. But even for truly dedicated geniuses like Ryan Drude, director of financial aid at Vermont Community Colleges, keeping up with the Department of Education's curveballs wasn't easy.
“Successful partnerships require clear transparency and communication,” he said. “They have some work to do to restore trust.”
The department announced this week that it would revamp its website and issue daily updates over the next month. In statements posted Monday and Tuesday, Rich Cordray, chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid, said the agency is eager to further increase its direct communication with schools.
“Our top priority is to ensure schools, families, scholarship organizations and states have the information they need to reach more students and families with higher education,” he said. Stated.
The government estimates that the new shortened version of the FAFSA (now much easier for most people to complete) will open the door to college for hundreds of thousands more low-income students. But failures in recent months have led some to wonder, “At what cost?”
“Just tell them straight.”
Sarah Miller isn't getting enough sleep.
She is the executive director of Green Halo Scholars, a nonprofit organization in the Chicago suburbs that works to help low-income and first-generation students make the transition to college. She coached dozens of students during the FAFSA challenges in January and February and saw some students become disappointed.
“You can see the disappointment in their eyes,” she said.
Immigrant families had the worst problems. Ismalai Gobert, a freshman at Florida International University, did not file his FAFSA until the end of February because of problems proving his father's identity. She is one of millions of students waiting for aid offers later than usual.
“When leadership is not working, it trickles down to the students,” she says.
The Ministry of Education says most of the problems with the form have been resolved. But internally, officials say the blame for at least some of the problems lies with private contractors, who have received millions of dollars from the federal government to support new financial aid programs. .
Republican lawmakers and some agency officials are holding leadership accountable. They claim that the top brass at the Department of Education became too obsessed with canceling billions in student loan debt, while the new FAFSA stalled.
“It's very sad,” said Arthur Wayne Johnson, who oversaw the Office of Federal Student Aid in the Trump administration. He resigned in 2019 to become an advocate for widespread student loan forgiveness.
The Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog, is investigating concerns about the FAFSA rollout as millions of students wait for offers of aid. The party launched multiple investigations at the request of Congressional Republicans, but both sides found rare agreement in criticizing the new format's flaws.
After all, students may not care who is to blame for the mess.
“Students just want it to be straight up,” Miller said. “That's what I want in charge.”
Zachary Schermele covers education and breaking news for USA TODAY. He can be reached by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow @ZachSchermele on X.
