Department of Education takes steps to speed up college financial aid awards after bumpy FAFSA rollout

Washington CNN —

The Department of Education said Tuesday that it’s taking steps to speed up college financial aid awards for the upcoming 2024-25 school year after a bumpy rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the FAFSA.

It’s the first time students and their families are using a simpler version of the FAFSA to apply for student loans and grants. With the new form, more students are expected to be eligible for more financial aid – but the rollout has been plagued with delays.

First, the form – which is usually released on October 1 – wasn’t widely available until early January. Then, after making a last-minute change to the financial aid calculation, the Department of Education said that it won’t be able to transfer students’ financial information to colleges until the first half of March – more than a month later than expected.

The Department of Education has been facing criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for the delays. A group of Republicans sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office last monthasking for an investigation. On Monday, more than 100 Democratic lawmakers called on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to urgently address the operational problems.

“Any delays in financial aid processing will most impact the students that need aid most,” wrote the lawmakers in a letter led by independentSen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and DemocraticRep. Bobby Scott of Virginia.

Department of Education officials have repeatedly said that overhauling the FAFSA has been a major, complicated undertaking that has been made more challenging by a lack of resources. In 2022, the Biden administration requested additional funding to handle a bigger workload, but