Round-up: Congressional Watchdog Faults Education Dept. for Botched FAFSA Launch
Education Department officials failed to properly test and prepare the redesigned Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form and launched it despite signs that it was not ready for wide release—an oversight that proved disastrous accord to a government watchdog’s investigation into last year’s botched rollout. The department’s failures are detailed in two documents released by U.S. Government Accountability Office Tuesday.
According to reporting in Inside Higher Ed: “Their [GAO investigator] findings were at the center of a House higher education subcommittee hearing Tuesday that featured testimony from two GAO officials, where lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pressed for answers about who was to blame for the failures and called for accountability.At the hearing, neither the GAO officials nor the lawmakers expressed confidence in the department’s ability to successfully roll out the 2025–26 application, which is already delayed by two months to allow for testing that’s set to begin next week.”
GAO officials warned that the next FAFSA is at risk for even more delays and similar technical issues to last year’s because of systemic problems in the department and the Office of Federal Student Aid, the agency that oversees the FAFSA.
Below is media coverage of the report’s release and the House hearing.
The Long-Awaited FAFSA Autopsy Is Here
Inside Higher Ed (September 25, 2024)
Congressional Watchdog Digs Into FAFSA Fiasco, Revealing Oversights, Call-Center Failures, and Unresolved Glitches
The Chronicle of Higher Education (September 25, 2024)
Scathing GAO Reports Blame Education Department Leaders for FAFSA Mess
Higher Education Dive (September 25, 2024)
Leadership Failures Helped Lead to FAFSA Debacle, Watchdog Finds
The New York Times (September 25, 2024)
Fewer Low-Income Students Applied for College Financial Aid After Botched FAFSA Rollout
CNN.com (September 25, 2024)
Watchdog Sheds Light on FAFSA Fiasco, From a Birthday Bug to Call Center Failures
NPR.org (September 25, 2024)
Government Watchdog Blames Education Department Leadership for Chaotic FAFSA Rollout
USA Today (September 25, 2024)
Government Watchdog Blames Poor Management for FAFSA Mishap
Politico (September 25, 2024)
Watchdog: Education Department Utterly Failed New FAFSA Launch
Forbes.com (September 25, 2024)