Twenty Senators Call on ED to Delay GE and FVT Reporting Deadline
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday sent a letter to the Department of Education (ED) calling for a delay of the institutional reporting deadline for gainful employment (GE) and financial value transparency (FVT) regulations until July 2025.
In March, ED announced a two-month extension of the GE and FVT reporting deadline, from July 31 to October 1, 2024. However, 20 senators, led by Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), now argue that the department’s two-month extension does not provide financial aid offices enough time to comply with an entirely new reporting framework, while also working to process financial aid.
The senators cited the rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA as a continued challenge for aid offices to navigate. The letter specifically highlights major hurdles like the unavailability of batch corrections functionality for this FAFSA cycle, along with other technical issues that have caused significant delays for aid offices.
Additionally, ED did not finalize the reporting requirements or publish a complete GE/FVT user guide to help schools prepare until July. The department also did not make the GE completers lists available until August, which many institutions use to test and implement their reporting process.
In late August, ED then identified issues with completers lists and FVT/GE reports, urging institutions to “pause” their reviews and use of these reports. ED wrote that once the issue is resolved, it “will review the related reporting deadlines.”
As a result, the senators stressed that institutions currently need to devote their resources to processing financial aid and assisting students to prepare them for the upcoming semester, rather than implementing the new reporting framework by October 1.
“Unfortunately, ED’s delays and errors throughout the 2024-25 FAFSA cycle have resulted in a situation where many students are still waiting for clarity surrounding financial aid for the fall semester,” the senators wrote. “To this day, financial aid offices across the country, at no fault of their own, are still working to resolve outstanding issues, assemble financial aid packages, and disburse aid to ensure students do not experience enrollment disruptions.”
For the past nine months NASFAA has been urging ED to push the GE and FVT reporting deadline to July 2025 since many institutions are still significantly burdened and overworked from the FAFSA rollout.
NASFAA is heartened by the growing bipartisan support for delaying these regulations, which would alleviate some of the administrative burden placed on overworked and understaffed financial aid offices.
“A delay would give institutions more time to complete the reporting and provide students and families with the most accurate information,” said NASFAA Interim President and CEO Beth Maglione. “Postponing the deadline, ideally to July 2025, would allow financial aid administrators to focus on supporting students through the new financial aid cycle as they navigate another delayed launch this year.”
The senators noted that if ED decides to extend the GE and FVT reporting deadline to July 2025, it will still give the department a full year to implement their part of the rule since it won’t be fully implemented until July 1, 2026.
“The Department should not rush to meet the October 1 deadline at the expense of financial aid administrators who are doing what they can to guide students through a difficult FAFSA cycle,” the senators write. “Now more than ever, aid administrators need to remain focused on helping students apply and receive the aid they need to access their postsecondary education.”
Publication Date: 9/11/2024
Darren C | 9/11/2024 12:44:44 PM
We need all Senators to align with this. The Department of ED has continued to make a mess out of things for both Universities and students. Between the FAFSA problems and the confusing messaging and failures of student loan forgiveness attempts there is no reason to believe GE and FVT will be any different. In the end, this will likely not be a smooth process and littered with many challenges, most of which fall onto the Universities to resolve.
Jennifer S | 9/11/2024 11:51:04 AM
disappointed that my senators are missing from this list, as we've been in contact pretty consistently about the impact this has on financial aid offices.
You must be logged in to comment on this page.