Congressional Republicans are stepping up their investigation into last year’s problems with college financial aid that affected students all over the country, USA Today reports.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives’ education committee issued a subpoena, demanding that the Biden administration give them documents about how the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the FAFSA, was prepared. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina who leads the committee, criticized the US Department of Education for not fully cooperating with the investigation into changes made to the FAFSA last year.
The FAFSA is a form that millions of students use yearly to get help paying for college. This spring, the application had many issues, which caused delays. These delays made it hard for students to determine how much college would cost. As a result, many high school seniors had to make big decisions about their future on a much tighter deadline than usual.
An independent government agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), agreed to investigate what went wrong. To find out more, the GAO is conducting two investigations. The Education Department said its staff has been working hard to prepare and send hundreds of documents to Congress and the GAO and is working to provide more information.
Some of the congressional Republicans who are critical of the FAFSA problems also want to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the budget of the office that handles the form.
Meanwhile, Congress is considering a bill from Republicans that would require the Education Department to release the next version of the FAFSA for the 2025-26 school year by October 1. The government usually releases the form by this date, but it was available only after Christmas last year. Federal law says the form should be available to students by January 1.
Some important Democrats and college advocacy groups are against this bill. They think it’s better to have a well-reviewed FAFSA by December 1, even if it’s late, rather than an on-time form with more mistakes.
