Ernst Hears From Iowans Impacted by FAFSA, Announces Dept of Ed Investigation

SIOUX CITY – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) hosted a roundtable at Morningside College for Iowa students, families, administrators, and other stakeholders to share how they have been impacted by the Department of Education’s botched rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

At the event, Ernst announced her new, bicameral oversight of the Department of Education to investigate whether the $1.17 billion intended for the rollout of the FAFSA Simplification Act was used for other projects, like Biden’s $153 billion in student loan “forgiveness.”

Download additional photos from the roundtable here.

“The Biden administration is clearly more concerned with forcing student loan socialism than actually fixing the FAFSA form for students, schools, and families,” said Senator Ernst. “I’m grateful to the Iowans who attended my roundtable to share their stories and the impact Biden’s blunder has had on their lives. I will continue fighting to ensure farm and small business families are not disadvantaged by this administration.”

Background:

The FAFSA form is typically accessible to students on Oct. 1 of each year to allow for ample time to submit financial information in advance of both state and school-specific deadlines for aid eligibility. However, due to incomplete planning measures, the Department of Education released this year’s version three months late, drastically condensing the timeline for families to submit for aid. This delayed rollout has specifically put farm families at a disadvantage, which is why Ernst has conducted critical oversight of the botched rollout, demanded answers for agricultural communities, and worked to deliver answers for Iowans.

Ernst has long fought to ensure students from families with small businesses and farms can pursue a higher education. In 2023, she introduced 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 introduced the 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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