Washington
CNN
—
Solely a restricted variety of college students and households will be capable of entry the federal government’s faculty monetary support type – which they need to undergo be eligible for federal loans and grants – on the normal October 1 launch date.
The 2025-2026 Free Utility for Federal Pupil Help, or FAFSA, will likely be launched on October 1 to a subset of scholars after which be made out there to an rising variety of candidates over the next two months.
The FAFSA will likely be totally out there to all college students on or earlier than December 1, the Division of Training stated Wednesday.
The delay comes after a rocky rollout of an up to date model of the FAFSA for the 2024-2025 educational 12 months. The adjustments to the shape are supposed to make the FAFSA simpler to fill out and ship extra monetary support to college students and households, however the implementation was plagued with issues. When the brand new model of the FAFSA was launched final December, it was initially solely out there for hours at a time.
The botched rollout resulted in important delays for college kids, lots of whom have been nonetheless waiting for financial aid award letters – which present how a lot they should pay for school – when making an attempt to resolve the place to enroll for the approaching fall.
Lawmakers on each side of the aisle have criticized the FAFSA rollout and expressed concerns that the issues with the shape would stop some low-income college students from going to school in any respect.
“That is utterly unacceptable. For the second 12 months in a row, the Biden-Harris administration goes to overlook the normal date to make the FAFSA type out there to college students,” Republican Sen. Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana stated in a press release.
Cassidy, the rating member of the Senate Well being, Training, Labor, and Pensions Committee, launched laws earlier this summer season that might require the Division of Training to make the FASFA out there by October 1 yearly. The invoice has but to be taken up for a vote.
The brand new FAFSA launch course of was determined based mostly on suggestions from stakeholders.
“Constantly, we heard that the product must be examined and dealing totally earlier than the components are rolled out,” Training Secretary Miguel Cardona stated on a name with reporters.
The phased launch is supposed to forestall most college students and households from experiencing glitches with the brand new FAFSA. The testing section will enable the division to repair any issues that will come up earlier than the shape is on the market to everybody. Final 12 months, a brand new Inner Income Service free tax filing pilot program was equally launched in a phased rollout.
The Division of Training has additionally made management adjustments inside its Federal Pupil Help workplace to assist relaunch the FAFSA this 12 months. The previous head of the workplace, Richard Cordray, stepped down in April, and Jeremy Singer – who has taken a short lived go away as president of The College Board – is now heading up the FAFSA operation.