President Joe Biden's failure to roll out a revamped financial aid form reveals an alarming lack of administrative capacity. This leaves universities unable to tell millions of students how much they will have to pay, leading some to delay admissions and others to abandon the idea altogether. This easily avoidable failure threatens to deprive low-income Americans of a college education. And as the country's chief executive, Mr. Biden needs to hold accountable the officials directly responsible.
The confusion stems from Congress' mandated overhaul of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is used to determine eligibility for government grants and loans. Once verified by the Department of Education, the student's records will be shared with the university, which will notify the student of tuition fees based on the financial aid they can expect. In past years, the FAFSA form, which includes more than 100 questions that requests more data than a tax return, has prevented many low-income students from completing their applications and denied them thousands of grants. did. In December 2020, Congress directed the department to design something simpler.
The work took more than three years and cost $336 million, but the results were disastrous. Due to launch delays and various technical troubles, his FAFSA completion rate plummeted by 40%. The short format is somehow even more confusing, even though there are only half as many questions. College counseling groups say it's taking twice as long for applicants to fill out.
The government is currently months behind in sending student records to schools and state financial aid agencies. Many colleges are not expected to offer estimated aid packages until the summer, leaving little time for families to consider their options. Poor students are less likely to enroll because expected costs are not clearly known. That would exacerbate post-pandemic declines in university enrollment (already at 20-year lows) and threaten the survival of dozens of cash-strapped institutions.
To call the government's performance pathetic would be an understatement. Congressional Republicans are planning a hearing to ask whether Biden's mistaken focus on student loan debt cancellation distracted officials from fixing the FAFSA. FAFSA policy, unlike the administration's push for debt forgiveness, is actually approved by a bipartisan majority in Congress. A thorough investigation of this mismanagement is certainly warranted, as is a broader review of the federal government's chronic failure to make basic technology upgrades.
But lawmakers need to go further.
Giving the Internal Revenue Service the power to calculate aid eligibility when families file their tax returns would save tons of paperwork and give students more time to plan. And there is no reason why students from households already eligible for means-tested federal benefits such as food stamps should have to submit the same information to the government twice. Ideally, Congress should phase out the standalone FAFSA by directing the Department of Education to use income tax data to calculate students' aid eligibility and provide that information directly to colleges and students. It is. Research shows that simplifying the financial aid process for low-income students significantly increases their chances of enrolling and completing college.
With increasing skepticism about the value of traditional college degrees, it bears repeating that higher education remains a sound investment and a tool for economic mobility for privileged students. The government, including the president, should facilitate access, not get in the way.
—Bloomberg Opinion Editorial Board
