Ernst Holds Biden Officials Who Botched the FAFSA Accountable
Her legislation would address problems for farm families.
WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) led a meeting with Rich Cordray, President Biden’s Chief Operating Officer for the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), and Melanie Storey, the Director of Federal Student Aid’s Office of Policy Implementation and Oversight (PIO), to question their botched rollout of the Federal Application for Student Aid (FAFSA), which has hurt farm families.
Because Cordray bears responsibility and after months of her oversight that his department has blown off, Ernst is holding him accountable for a plan to fix the FAFSA for next year before he departs in June. During the meeting, the officials admitted that they failed to successfully roll out this year’s FAFSA. They identified Ernst’s bipartisan Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act as the best solution to address the problem for farm families.
Ernst was joined by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Roger Marshall (R-Kans.), and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.). The senators questioned the administration’s failure to consult with agriculture communities to understand how the new FAFSA asset reporting requirements would affect them, how families should reasonably calculate the value of their farms, and how the Department of Education plans to conduct an analysis of the 2024-2025 aid process to avoid repeating its mistakes.
“As I have long suspected, the Biden administration left our farm families in the dust while developing their new, flawed FAFSA form,” said Senator Ernst. “Folks who have never stepped foot on a farm shouldn’t be writing policies that impact thousands in our ag communities. I will continue pushing my Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act and holding this administration accountable to fix their FAFSA fiasco.”
“Between this year’s FAFSA delays and the application’s vague farm reporting requirements, Washington bureaucrats have sown confusion for American families facing a significant financial investment in their kids’ futures,” said Senator Grassley. “Senator Ernst and I won’t let up until the Education Department gets Iowans the answers they deserve.”
“Rural America is kicked to the curb once again under the Biden Administration,” said Senator Marshall. “Not only are our students facing severe delays getting aid, but farm families are getting excluded from aid entirely thanks to the new FAFSA formula. Anyone in Kansas knows that family farms have different financial circumstances than urban America that need to be taken into account. I have and will continue to press the department on these issues and their botched FAFSA rollout”
Background:
The FAFSA form is typically accessible to students on Oct. 1 of each year to allow ample time to submit financial information before 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. To make matters worse, the late rollout came with additional challenges, including changes that could reduce or eliminate access to need-based student aid for farm families and small business owners.
An analysis by Iowa College Aid found that previously, a farm family with an income of $60,000 and a farm of median value would be expected to contribute $7,626 annually toward their child’s education. Under the new formula, that same family would be expected to contribute $41,056, and some families would be excluded from aid altogether.
Today, just 8.7 million students have submitted their FAFSA form, a significant decline from the more than 17 million who typically apply for aid before May 1. This includes the more than 3 million submitted applications which required reprocessing by the Office of Federal Student Aid, further delaying aid packages by several weeks.
To fight back, Ernst 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.
In addition, Ernst has conducted critical oversight, demanded answers on behalf of agricultural communities, and worked to get input directly from impacted Iowans.
She has 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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