Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and GOP Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, supported by 26 other legislators, on Wednesday asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the Biden Administration over what they said is a "failure to properly implement the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) program."
The lawmakers said that the process led to delays in "students' and families' access to crucial financial aid for college."
"Repeated delays from the Department of Education in rolling out the new FAFSA have left students and schools in limbo for the upcoming school year," the legislators said in a letter. "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."
FAFSA went live this month after a delay from its initial October 1 release, and the form was designed to assist with streamlining the application process for student aid.
In a statement released on Wednesday that accompanied the letter to the GAO, the Republican lawmakers accused the Education Department of a stop-and-start process to unveil the FAFSA form. They accused the government of failing to make the form fully available to applicants until January 6, days after a deadline instituted by Congress.
Senator Cassidy in a follow-up statement to Newsweek suggested that the challenges over the FAFSA process were due to mistaken priorities.
"The Department of Education's delayed and botched roll-out of FAFSA is causing a lot of stress and anxiety for students trying to find out what schools they can afford to attend," Senator Cassidy said. "The Biden administration had over three years to prepare but prioritized their student loan schemes over performing the basic tasks mandated by law and essential for American families and students."
Chuck Young, GAO's managing director for public affairs, confirmed to Newsweek that they received the lawmakers' request.
"Now it will go through our normal review process for all congressional requests and we should have a decision in about a week," Young said.
The legislators said they wanted clarity about how government officials were working to fix the trouble prior to it being fully available for students. They also requested information on how the department was helping applicants with appropriate information and guidance when they set out to complete the form.
In their letter, the lawmakers said the feedback they received was that the government was "falling short."
"Beyond the initial delays, it is also unclear whether Education is providing students and schools with sufficient information and guidance on the new FAFSA form and process," the letter said. "The goal of FAFSA simplification was in part to make the whole process easier for students and their families."
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Education via email for comment on Wednesday afternoon.
On January 2, the department acknowledged that there were "minor issues" that contributed to some "pauses" to the site during which the form would be unavailable to applicants and urged patience.
A week later, it said the form was now available at all hours and that more than 1 million students had sent in their applications.
"The fact that over a million students were able to complete the Better FAFSA during its brief soft launch period underscores our commitment to making applying for college financial aid simpler and easier than ever before," U.S. Secretary of Miguel Cardona said in a statement on January 8.
"With the Better FAFSA now live 24/7, we are moving the federal financial aid application into the 21st century and in the process, putting affordable higher education within the reach of 610,000 students from families with low incomes who will now be eligible for Pell Grants for the very first time."
Update 1/24/24, 4:59 p.m. ET: This article was updated with fresh comments from Senator Cassidy.
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Omar Mohammed is a Newsweek reporter based in the Greater Boston area. His focus is reporting on the Economy and ... Read more
