‘Game-Changing Crisis’: Lawmakers, Experts Vent FAFSA Frustrations
Katherine Knott
April 11, 2024
While one House committee probed the FAFSA mess Wednesday, another grilled Education Secretary Miguel Cardona about the disastrous rollout of the student-aid form.
“Disaster.” “Mess.” “Crisis.”
Those were a few terms used by Republicans and Democrats to describe the launch of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) during a Wednesday hearing of the House higher education subcommittee that revealed their deep frustrations with the Biden administration’s handling of the project, which has run months behind schedule and been riddled with issues.
“We’ve had 32 years of a functioning system that served hundreds of millions of students and thousands of institutions,” said Utah representative Burgess Owens, the Republican chair of the higher education subcommittee. “Within three years, Biden’s Department of Education has managed to bring the education industry a possible game-changing crisis.”
After the hearing, some Republicans wanted heads to roll. The House Education and Workforce Committee said on social media that “it’s time for Richard Cordray to GO.” Cordray is the chief operating office of the Office of Federal Student Aid, which has overseen the FAFSA overhaul.
Congress ordered the Education Department to simplify and streamline the FAFSA as part of a law passed in 2020 that also expanded eligibility for the Pell Grant for low-income students. The department was initially given two years to complete the task, but the Biden administration received a one-year extension in spring 2021.
