Press Releases

Roughly 18 million students fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year to apply for financial aid that enables them to attend postsecondary institutions. The Department of Education had years to implement bipartisan reforms to the FAFSA but instead focused on illegally transferring student debt to taxpayers. The Department of Education’s failed FAFSA rollout is preventing millions of students from receiving crucial financial aid, with only 20 percent of applicants processed. With college decision deadlines fast approaching, the majority of students remain uncertain about their futures.
 
In Case You Missed It, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) penned a letter to the editor in response to Justin Draeger and Ted Mitchell’s essay that implied the Department of Education botched the FAFSA rollout because of a lack of funding. Foxx corrects the record saying, “This is not a funding issue. This is a management one.”


Inexcusable FAFSA Delays
 
Re “Another Hurdle for College Applicants” by Justin Draeger and Ted Mitchell (Opinion guest essay, Feb.10) by Rep. Virginia Foxx:
 
Not all late homework is equal.
 
As a former professor, I’ve given out (and denied) many deadline extension requests. Sometimes extensions are warranted. Other times, however, it is clear a student has just procrastinated, and poor time management is the real culprit.
 
When it comes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the Department of Education seems happy to give itself countless deadline extensions even though its own incompetence is to blame.
 
The department had plenty of time to implement a bipartisan law that was passed over three years ago. Instead, it focused energy and resources on transferring student loan debt to taxpayers.
 
Students normally would be filling out the FAFSA beginning in October. It is now February and countless students cannot even access the form, let alone have their information shared with schools.
 
This is not a funding issue. This is a management one.

As the chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, I will hold the department accountable.

Virginia Foxx
Washington
The writer is a Republican member of Congress from North Carolina.