The Government's Solution to FAFSA Chaos: Spend $50 Million More

Instead of throwing money at the problem, the Education Department should commit to fixing the form for next year.

Following persistent technical issues with this year's updated, streamlined Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, the Education Department has announced a $50 million program to help more students complete the form—next year.

The chunk of funding is aimed at "expand[ing] the availability of advisers, counselors, and coaches to support students and contributors through the FAFSA applications," according to a Monday press release.

"We are determined to close the FAFSA completion gap," Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten said. "The funding we're announcing today will support states, districts, and community-based groups [to] build capacity and leverage their power to ensure that every student who needs help paying for college turns in their FAFSA form."

FAFSA is required for any college students seeking federal grants or loans. Most colleges also use the form to determine how much institutional financial aid to offer students. In a typical year, over 15 million students and their families fill out the FAFSA form. But as of late April, successful applications are down 24 percent this year due to ubiquitous technical bugs in the updated form.

This year's issues stem from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which mandated that the Education Department release a simplified version of the FAFSA form. The updated form was released in December—more than two months later than the typical release date. Almost immediately, the form was plagued with errors and bugs that made it nearly impossible to complete for many students.

FAFSA's own website details many of the issues with the form since its release. While most can be fixed with complicated "workarounds," some kept affected students from filling out the form for months. In March, the Education Department even announced that they had incorrectly calculated the completed forms of 200,000 students, leading to some possibly receiving more generous financial aid offers than they were actually eligible for.

Instead of publicly committing to solving these issues for next year's form, the Education Department is attempting to ameliorate its mistakes by throwing money at the problem. Why make a better FAFSA when you can pay people to shepherd students and their families through an infuriatingly complex process?

According to USA Today, the Education Department usually releases a draft version of next year's FAFSA in February or March, but that hasn't happened yet—hardly a good sign for next year's form.

While it's unclear whether students will have a smoother FAFSA experience next year, at least they can say they've gotten an apology. 

"I apologize to the students and families that have had to deal with delays," Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said during a congressional hearing this week. "I know how frustrating that is."

Comments

[Yuno Hoo]

This year's issues stem from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which mandated that the Education Department release a simplified version of the FAFSA form. The updated form was released in December—more than two months later than the typical release date. Almost immediately, the form was plagued with errors and bugs that made it nearly impossible to complete for many students.

Ah, but was the simplicity mandate met?

[JesseAz]

End FAFSA and there would be no chaos.

[Longtobefree]

Call that a good start.
Better to just move student debt collection to the treasury department and eliminate the department of education.

[damikesc]

Yeah, give the IRS control of collecting it. And then send student loan generation to banks with zero government guarantees.

[Zeb]

Here's a better idea: abolish the Dept. of Education and stop federal subsidies of higher education.

[Eeyore]

Not just a better idea. The "best" idea.

[sarcasmic]

Exactly. Without student loans, college would be affordable.

[charliehall]

Only if we raised state taxes to reduce or eliminate tuition.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

No. Without subsidizing marginal students and researchers, without paying all those woke burrocrata, expenses would drop dramatically.

It was common decades ago for some students to work their way through college, without student loans, parental support, scholarships, or anything but their jobs.

Your claim fails the historic reality test.

[damikesc]

"Only if we raised state taxes to reduce or eliminate tuition."

Tuition has increased far beyond inflation for many years now.

Tuition for many school is about 10% of their operating budget.

They could use some blood-letting.

We should also seize their endowments. Because FYTW.

[Rick James]

The Government's Solution to FAFSA Chaos: Spend $50 Million More
Instead of throwing money at the problem, the Education Department should commit to fixing the form for next year.

*rubs eyes, looks again*

*mumbles to self*Is this a libertarian site?

*rubs eyes, looks again*

So the libertarian position is that we should streamline the process to make getting free taxpayer cheese given to Hamas supporters college students?

[Rick James]

"There better not be one fucking Trump Tariff on my mandated electric vehicle!"

[JesseAz]

Hey. It worked for SSA disability.

[MrMxyzptlk]

Not every kid who goes to college gets a gender studies degree. They just do that after they find out chemistry and math are hard. Then they switch to liberal arts and take classes like Mathematics 105 "Long Division for Liberal Arts Majors" and can avoid chemistry entirely.

[Don't look at me!]

And these are the people we should put in charge of health care.

[Rick James]

Um, these were the people who were in charge of COVID and vaccine policy.

[Yuno Hoo]

NPR's take on the HealthCare.gov failure

[Longtobefree]

"The chunk of funding is aimed at "expand[ing] the availability of advisers, counselors, and coaches to support students and contributors through the FAFSA applications," according to a Monday press release."

Wait.
50 million to hire somebody ELSE to fix the problem?
WTF??!!

Did I miss the part where everybody involved in this fiasco got fired?

[The Angry Hippopotamus]

Still can’t find education or it’s funding as an enumerated power of the Federal Government in my copy of The Constitution of The United States of America.

Must be hidden in invisible ink with the part that reads “This document is null and void if a flu virus shows up”

[TJJ2000]

^THIS [phone].

[AT]

Check the "penumbras" of the Bill of Rights.

That's where the Founders gave government the ability to just make up whatever the heck they want and pretend it's Constitutional.

[TJJ2000]

That day ‘Gov’ became a 3rd-party gun-packing gang of criminals providing the service of armed-theft against those ‘icky’ producers for those special lazy people.

Instead of using the monopoly of ‘Guns’ to ensure everyone’s Liberty and Justice for all. Yes; it really is that simple. The only complex thing about it is all the *excuses* the special criminal lazy people make for it.

So busy making *excuses* they don't even take the time to realize there 'theft' is a zero-sum resources game. 'Guns' don't produce sh*t.

[Stuck in California]

Quick straw poll.

How many here think FAFSA is worthy of eight articles in the last two months?

It really seems like an awful lot to me when the only libertarian take in all of them is "government sucks at software."

[The Angry Hippopotamus]

It really seems like an awful lot to me when the only libertarian take in all of them is “government sucks at software.”

Well, that and that neither education nor its funding is a power enumerated to the Federal Government in Article I Section 8 of The Constitution of The United States of America, or any of its 27 Amendments, and by the 10th Amendment is the purview of the States.

[Roberta]

But there is not the political will to stop it, so the next best we can do that's politically feasible is to do it more competently. Just like there's not the political will to stop the things that make illegal immigration to the US attractive, but what is politically feasible is to stop the illegal immigration. Or like how there's not the political will to get rid of drug laws, but it's politically feasible to loosen them and hold down the taxes on them.