May 02, 2024
FAFSA Corrections Process Improves
The Department of Education announced that it has successfully fixed the issues it was having aligning FAFSAs with the appropriate tax records and has finally reprocessed those affected applications. Coming just days prior to the May 1 deposit deadline, the Department said the fix would allow institutions that had been holding aid packaging until corrections were made to move forward with their offers.
This issue had affected a large portion of aid applications and was one of the most significant problems for students and institutions, affecting an estimated 20% of all completed FAFSAs.
The Department also announced a work around for students or their contributors (those required to fill in information on an applicant’s FAFSA, such as a dependent student’s parents) who do not have social security numbers. The temporary process requires manual entry of tax and other information. There is no timeline for when the problem will be permanently fixed.
Even with these significant issues apparently addressed, other problems continue to linger. For example, the Department is only going to begin processing paper FAFSAs this summer, but a specific date has not yet been announced.
In a related note, Richard Cordray, chief operating officer of the Department’s Federal Student Aid (FSA) office since 2021, is stepping down at the end of June. His three-year term ends in May and will be up for reappointment, but the FAFSA debacle is widely seen as the reason he is leaving FSA.
This issue had affected a large portion of aid applications and was one of the most significant problems for students and institutions, affecting an estimated 20% of all completed FAFSAs.
The Department also announced a work around for students or their contributors (those required to fill in information on an applicant’s FAFSA, such as a dependent student’s parents) who do not have social security numbers. The temporary process requires manual entry of tax and other information. There is no timeline for when the problem will be permanently fixed.
Even with these significant issues apparently addressed, other problems continue to linger. For example, the Department is only going to begin processing paper FAFSAs this summer, but a specific date has not yet been announced.
In a related note, Richard Cordray, chief operating officer of the Department’s Federal Student Aid (FSA) office since 2021, is stepping down at the end of June. His three-year term ends in May and will be up for reappointment, but the FAFSA debacle is widely seen as the reason he is leaving FSA.