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Foxx, Owens Blast Education Department for FAFSA Flop

ED’s Fixation on Biden’s Illegal Student Loan Scheme Led to Botched Rollout

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 30, 2024
WASHINGTON – Today, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee Chair Burgess Owens (R-UT) sent a letter to Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona demanding answers to the bungled launch, existing errors, and continued delays of full implementation of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This is in response to the Department’s announcement today that FAFSA implementation would be delayed at least another 30 days. The Department’s focus on illegally transferring student debt to taxpayers instead of successfully launching the FAFSA is negatively impacting students, families, and postsecondary institutions. 

In the letter, Foxx and Owens write: “The bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act (Act), which eliminates unnecessary questions and streamlines the process for completing the application was enacted in December 2021, and was to take effect on July 1, 2023. … The Department should have focused on expeditiously doing the work necessary for a successful and timely launch for the simplified FAFSA to be ready for students, families, and institutions of higher education (IHEs). Unfortunately, for the over 17.5 million estimated students who are expected to complete the FAFSA in 2024, the Department’s ‘soft launch’ of the simplified FAFSA on December 30, 2023, was fraught with issues.”

Foxx and Owens continue: “The ‘soft launch’ involved lengthy online waiting rooms, sporadic closures of the form, and software errors for applicants. Though the FAFSA is available today for completion, the Department itself has admitted that students and families are still unable to complete the FAFSA because of an extensive list of technical issues. … It appears the Department has focused its time and resources on transferring student debt to taxpayers rather than on faithfully implementing the laws enacted by Congress. … The net result is students struggling to plan their postsecondary education because of the delays and related problems.”
 
Given these disruptions, Foxx and Owens ask Secretary Cardona to produce documents related to the Department’s botched rollout and implementation, including:
  • The Department’s plan of action to implement the Act.
  • Communications the Department shared with students and other stakeholders regarding deadlines or extensions of deadlines for availability of the new FAFSA, including the most recent extension to March.
  • Communications between the Department and contractors tasked with FAFSA implementation.
  • Written communications regarding the reallocation of salaries and expense account funding to implement the administration’s student loan cancellation initiatives.
  • Communications between the Department and schools regarding the deadline for providing FAFSA information.
  • Timelines of the Department’s attempts to resolve each of the identified FAFSA implementation errors. 
Read the full letter here. 

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