Republicans Press OIG for Updates on FAFSA Rollout Investigation
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
Republican lawmakers on Wednesday urged the Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Inspector General (OIG) for updates on its investigation into the department’s rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA, and details on the status of the planned launch for the 2025-26 form.
The letter, spearheaded by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, noted that the rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA has been riddled with errors, which has created usability issues for students, delayed timelines and required ED to reprocess millions of forms.
Further, the lawmakers noted that enrollment experts expect a 10% drop in FAFSA applications filed by the class of 2024 high school seniors.
“We strongly urge you to continue to focus on this critical matter and to share your findings with Congress and the American people,” the lawmakers wrote. “Students and families who need federal student aid to access postsecondary education deserve our best efforts to ensure that the Department successfully executes the laws enacted by Congress to make student aid easily accessible.”
Cassidy and Foxx have jointly pressured ED to provide more details concerning the status of FAFSA simplification. Earlier this year the lawmakers called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to formally examine how the 2024-25 FAFSA rollout is impacting students and schools. Last month, Cassidy and Foxx sent a letter to ED urging the department to “immediately comply” with GAO, saying ED is “stonewalling” its investigation. Most recently the pair of lawmakers unveiled a bill, last week, that would officially require ED to make the annual FAFSA form available to students on October 1, with a House committee advancing their version to the floor.
In Wednesday’s letter the lawmakers noted that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced in May that ED will conduct a “full-scale review” of the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), where the department would solicit input from OIG to address “ongoing management and operational challenges.” The lawmakers urged OIG to complete the full-scale review Cardona requested, and to share its findings.
The lawmakers are also asking OIG to complete its evaluation on the status of the upcoming 2025-26 FAFSA, and to make recommendations to ED to correct any issues found in its FAFSA development and launch processes. The lawmakers wrote that OIG should also complete an evaluation of ED’s Student Aid and Borrower Eligibility Reform (SABER) initiative, and complete reports on how management challenges within ED or FSA impacted the rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA.
Additionally, the lawmakers asked OIG to provide them with a briefing by July 25 regarding OIG's ability to evaluate the status of the development process for the 2025-26 FAFSA; a timeline for completing its evaluation and report on the SABER initiative; and a timeline for evaluating management challenges at ED and FSA systems' issues.
Publication Date: 7/15/2024
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