Education Department delays release of financial aid form — again

Education Department officials announced Wednesday that they will delay the release of its financial aid application, another embarrassing hiccup for an agency that has struggled to fix problems with a revamped form for nearly a year.

The department will make the form available by Dec. 1, with a limited number of students and schools able to receive a test form on Oct. 1, the usual deadline. More will get the form in November, part of a phased release meant to avoid last year’s disastrous fate when issues with a new form led to months of delays.

“We heard that the product should be tested and working fully before parts are rolled out,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told reporters, saying the decision came after months of conversations with families, schools and advisers.

Officials attempted last year to overhaul the form, known as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, with a goal of making it easier to apply. But the new online application faced a series of technical problems and wasn’t released until three months later, when some students had already needed to make decisions about college.

Other students, such as those whose parents didn’t have Social Security numbers, weren’t able to access the online form at all. This forced schools to push back application deadlines, delay making financial aid offers and postpone student enrollment deadlines. About 17 million people apply for FAFSA in a normal year.

“These challenges, rooted in a federal student aid department that was also in desperate need of modernization, resulted in frustration for many students, education leaders and policy makers on the Hill,” Cardona said on Wednesday acknowledging some of the department’s challenges.

Education groups pushed the department to delay the release date, even as House lawmakers advanced a bill that would make the Oct. 1 deadline mandatory. The National College Attainment Network and four other advocacy organizations last month insisted there was "no path" for the agency to meet its usual Oct. 1 deadline and asked it to delay the release.

Steve Colón the CEO of Bottom Line, an organization that helps students apply for aid, said a reliable form outweighed meeting a fall deadline. “If we have to make a trade off and we have to push back Oct. 1 to get a fully functioning system, that's a trade we’re willing to make,” he said. “What we really need is clarity and transparency around timing so we can make a plan.”

Republicans quickly jumped on the announcement.

“This is completely unacceptable,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), ranking member of the committee that works on education. “We saw last year that colleges cannot create financial aid packages without timely FAFSA information. Many students may forgo college when they cannot choose a school because they do not know their eligibility for student aid.”