Ernst Fighting Against Unfair FAFSA Changes for Iowa Farm Families
New federal aid formula could force some Iowa families to pay up to five times more to send children to college.
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) stood up for Iowa farm families who have been negatively impacted by the Biden administration’s botched student aid roll out.
She pointed out that, while the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) formula was supposed to improve farm families’ eligibility for aid, it could instead cause some families’ expected contributions to skyrocket by more than five times. Ernst demanded that the Department of Education fix this process and will continue her oversight to give families both on and off the farm certainty by next school year.
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Background:
Following the recent implementation issues, Ernst has conducted critical oversight by requesting a Government Accountability Office investigation into the Biden administration’s failure to properly roll out the new FAFSA format.
Ernst has also long worked to help students from families with small businesses and family farms in particular. In 2023, sheintroduced the Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act to reverse recent changes to the FAFSA process that could reduce or even eliminate access to need-based student aid for farm families and small business owners. She also introducedthe Student Transparency for Understanding Decisions in Education Net Terms (STUDENT) Act to give prospective students an estimate of the total amount of interest they would pay on a loan.
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