U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced the Department of Education’s new college support strategy Feb. 12. The plan aims to help universities process FAFSA information easier and simpler.
The announcement came as a direct response to input from financial aid administrators, university leaders, students and parents, according to Cardona. The organization is already working toward reducing delays for form submission. Since the 2024-25 FAFSA became available Dec. 30, nearly four million forms have been submitted, many in record time, Cardona said.
“Our top priority is to ensure students can access the maximum financial aid possible to help them pursue their higher education goals,” Cardona said.
First, the department is reducing verification, while continuing to combat identity fraud, Cardona said. Each year, the Department of Education selects a proportion of FAFSA applicants for colleges to verify. For example, colleges may ask families to supply copies of their tax returns. The new FAFSA will pull income information directly from tax records through a data exchange with the IRS.
Additionally, the Department of Education is suspending the routine program reviews used to confirm colleges’ requirements for institutional eligibility, financial responsibility and administrative capability, Cardona said. All new program reviews will be suspended through June 2024, except those related to serious wrongdoing such as suspected fraud.
“We understand these reviews can be a lot of work for colleges and universities that have to produce documentation and respond to department inquiries during the time when they need to focus on quickly getting aid,” Cardona said.
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Lastly, the department will be providing additional flexibility and recertification, Cardona said. While institutions currently must recertify eligibility for federal student aid programs no later than 90 days before the Program Participation Agreement expires, the department will waive that requirement for institutions whose PPA expires between now and September 2024.
Cardona emphasized the Department of Education’s struggle to secure substantial funding. Congress did not provide enough funding to implement these three projects earlier and they have not yet supplied a budget for the current year, Cardona said.
“The FAFSA has been a very challenging project … and the lack of resources has been one contributing factor,” Cardona said.
Many institutions and families have stressed the challenges of contributing to the FAFSA when parents don’t have social security numbers, Cardona said. While parents without social security numbers are only able to fill out the paper version of the FAFSA, Cardona hopes to make the online version more accessible in the coming weeks.
The Department of Education also plans to allocate $50 million in technical assistance to under-resourced colleges. The department will release test versions of student records by Feb. 16 to help institutions prepare their systems.
“At the end of the day it’s about delivering on the promise of transformational change,” Cardona said. “It’s about overhauling a broken system that was failing too many students, and one that we normalized in this country.”
The UW Office of Financial Aid hosts FAFSA Frenzy, a program designed to support students with the application process. The program takes place every Friday from February to March and provides assistance from a team of FAFSA experts for those who want help filling out the application.
