Republican Lawmakers Launch Investigation Into ‘Botched’ FAFSA Launch

• The new FAFSA launched Dec. 30 with limited availability until Jan. 8.
• Lawmakers questioned whether this rollout met Congress' requirements for the Simplified FAFSA.
• The financial aid application process has been mired in other issues since the launch, too.
• Leaders called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate the launch.

Two prominent Republican lawmakers requested an investigation into how the Department of Education (ED) launched the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, each their party's highest-ranking authority on education policy in each chamber, recently sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). They, along with 26 other lawmakers, called on GAO to investigate the challenges students have faced in filling out the FAFSA and what is being done to address outstanding issues.

ED "soft launched" the Simplified FAFSA on Dec. 30 and fully rolled out the form on Jan. 8.

The bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act passed in 2020 required the department to launch the new FAFSA by Jan. 1, 2024. However, according to Cassidy and Foxx, the application was only available to students for 30 minutes on Dec. 30 and one hour on Dec. 31.

Students quickly reported issues in filling out the FAFSA. Many problems are ongoing nearly a month after the launch, including one obstacle preventing students with at least one noncitizen parent from completing the form online.

"Repeated delays from [ED] in rolling out the new FAFSA have left students and schools in limbo for the upcoming school year," the lawmakers wrote. "Although students have traditionally been able to start submitting a FAFSA each year on Oct. 1, ED was three months late launching the new application."

Republican lawmakers also questioned whether ED has sufficiently helped students and schools during the rollout.

"All these challenges and delays may cause some students — particularly low-income students who are most dependent on federal aid — to give up and not pursue postsecondary education," the letter reads.

Lawmakers requested that GAO investigate the following four issues:

• What challenges did students and schools face in applying for and administering federal student aid?
• What steps has ED taken to identify and address issues in preparation for the next FAFSA cycle?
• To what extent has ED provided students enough information to complete their FAFSA?
• To what extent has ED provided schools with enough guidance to incorporate FAFSA changes into their financial aid award systems?

The letter did not include a deadline for when GAO must complete its investigation.

This investigation comes as Republican lawmakers are looking to push their own vision for U.S. higher education. Foxx, chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, recently proposed the College Cost Reduction Act, which would make drastic changes to the federal student loan system.