Republicans: Biden’s administration cheated on financial aid applications because the “scheme” focused on student loans was to prevalent.
Some students are still waiting for data as the quarter draws near thanks to the Department of Education’s flawed financial aid application rollout.
However, politicians are still pressing for answers, as they recently obtained a subpoena for more information about what went wrong when the office released its fresh, reduced Free Application for Federal Student Aid earlier this year.
The disruptions have hurt pupils, one professional told , The College Fix lately.
Emily Desjean, producer of legislation research for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, told The Fix about the real-life effects of the FAFSA issues.
In a recent message, Desjean wrote that the FAFSA glitches may have been a headache for some students, but many others may have had their dreams completely derailed as a result of some students putting off going to college.
Some students “do n’t have a clear answer on how much financial aid they’ll receive,” Desjean told The Fix, noting that classes are only a few weeks away and that payments are due.
This time, bipartisan legislation was passed to simplify and streamline the program for families.
However, a three-month pause followed by processing glitches and data problems caused problems, and the office estimated nearly 30 percent of programs were affected.
Some schools attribute the issues to membership figures that were below what was anticipated.
At Emerson College in Massachusetts, President Jay Bernhardt announced plans to drop off faculty and staff due to low membership, blaming in part the FAFSA implementation, The Berkeley Beacon reported.
Nevertheless, FAFSA applications are down about 8 percent from last year, the ministry stated in June.
Politicians file summons for solutions
The Government Accountability Office is conducting , an exploration into the agency’s handling of the deployment.
The Department of Education has provided the GAO with more than 800 files, according to Alberto Betancourt, a spokesperson for the organization, and is still “working assiduously to answer their questions.”
According to Betancourt, the DOE “remains committed to responding to GAO’s broad calls as quickly as possible.”
House Education Committee frontrunners filed a lawsuit for records on July 25 to object to the DOE’s lack of transparency and thoroughness with research inquiries.
” From refusals to update staff to blocking a GAO investigation, it’s clear that the Department of Education is n’t going to give its co-equal branch the relevant information willingly”, Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx stated in a news release.
According to the lawsuit, despite the fact that” some knowledge and files” have been obtained by the GAO, “many pending requests still remain with the Department more than four months later.”
Republicans ‘ lawmakers also attributed the weak rollout to the Biden administration’s focus on its contentious student loan loan.
In a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in May, Foxx and Sen. Bill Cassidy wrote:  ,” The Biden Administration proceeded to network considerable resources apart from congressionally mandated responsibilities, including the return to settlement and FAFSA simplicity, and toward projects that were not sanctioned by Congress at all, including the Biden Administration’s unlawful loan forgiveness scheme”.
The Biden administration is now hiding information from Congress and the American people, they wrote, “instead of admitting its error.”
However, Republican Rep. Erin Houchin and Sen. Cassidy introduced policy in July to demand the office to make the program available to students by Oct. 1, rather of Jan. 1.
The FAFSA Deadline Act” may hold the DeptEd to a distinct release date” and give families extra time to “prepare for their children’s futures”, Houchin said in a news release.
This bill will formalize its intentions and ensure that students receive the support and financial information they need in a timely manner, according to her.” If the Department is truly on track, as they claim, this bill will formalize its intentions,” she said.
However, department spokesperson Betancourt, when asked about the legislation, told The Fix “adding a mandate in 2025-26 will not change the expediency with which we are approaching 25-26 development”.
MORE: 17 states sue Biden over latest student loan bailout plan
IMAGE: BDoss928/Shutterstock
Follow The College Fix on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
