The federal government had supposedly made it much easier to apply for financial aid for college. Except there was a technical issue and students couldn't access the new online tool they needed. Applications were delayed for months and the number of students seeking help plummeted.
That's the scene in 2024. No, wait, that was 2017. Actually, it's both.
It seems like every time the dreaded Free Application for Federal Student Aid gets easier, it (temporarily) gets a lot worse. The problem has never been greater than this year, when colleges have been forced to postpone application deadlines to allow more students to make their way through the incredibly broken FAFSA system when they can.
Students get stuck in repetitive loops, or the website tells them they already have accounts when they don't, and if they try to access this unheard of account, they can't. Some parents who don't have Social Security numbers find they can get through the system without one. Others can't. School counselors trying to help their students receive error messages but they do not indicate what the problem is or how to overcome it. The U.S. Department of Education, responsible for the FAFSA, has set up help lines, but they are overwhelmed with calls and many students are unable to get through. As a result, the number of applications is half of what it normally would be at this time.
This week, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said the department would relax many of the requirements for income verification, a complicated process for colleges that shouldn't be necessary anyway, since the new system uses families' federal tax returns. It is also removing other bureaucratic obstacles.
It's a good start, but not enough. Cardona should hire a large number of people trained quickly to answer phones or work with families online to complete their paperwork right then and there. You should also be prepared to offer additional financial aid to students who miss their colleges' deadlines through no fault of their own.
Above all, the public is owed an explanation for what appears to be a botched implementation of the new system. The online application, which had been promised at the end of October, was delayed almost three months. And once it was up and running, endless loops, mysterious error messages, and other glitches made it seem more like a rush job in its early stages than a sophisticated system that would lighten the burden on families.
Democratic lawmakers want assurances that Cardona will ensure students are not left out. Republicans want a Government Accountability Office investigation into the still chaotic implementation of the FAFSA. They are both right.
But lawmakers also played a major role in creating the financial aid pandemonium this year. The Department of Education was ordered to produce this new, simpler FAFSA system at the same time it had to begin collecting student loan payments, which had been paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are two massive projects, without receiving the funding the department had estimated it needed to produce a smoothly running operation. The price of that cheapness will be high.
This is something to remember the next time the federal government wants to “streamline” the FAFSA.
