NASFAA Signs Onto Letter in Support of FAFSA Deadline Act
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
NASFAA, along with other higher education organizations, signed onto a letter to House leadership in support of the FAFSA Deadline Act, which is currently on the House floor. If enacted the legislation would make October 1 the official launch date for the FAFSA each year.
Currently, the Higher Education Act (HEA) states that the FAFSA must be released no later than January 1, though typically – with the exception of 2024-25 and 2025-26 FAFSA cycles – the application has been released on October 1. The FAFSA Deadline Act, which was introduced by Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.), would amend the HEA to make the Department of Education (ED) release the FAFSA no later than October 1.
When the legislation was first unveiled this summer, and quickly considered by the House Education and the Workforce Committee, NASFAA encouraged committee members to further amend it and ensure that any new statutory changes would not adversely impact the 2025-26 FAFSA rollout.
“NASFAA has long supported an October 1 statutory mandate, but declined to support this bill previously because of the 25-26 effective date. FSA needed enough time for thorough end-to-end testing before the launch of the 2025-26 FAFSA,” said NASFAA Interim President and CEO Beth Maglione. “However this version of the bill, with an effective date for the 26-27 FAFSA, will help ensure a smoother timeline for future aid cycles.”
The legislation, which was amended after its introduction, would also require the Secretary of Education to certify to Congress, by September 1, that the FAFSA will be ready by October 1.
The letter, led by the American Council on Education (ACE), stressed the importance that students and families have sufficient time to chose which college to attend, since it is one of the “biggest financial decisions of their lives.” Enacting the FAFSA Deadline Act, the organizations urged, would have significant benefits for students.
“Completion of the FAFSA is a crucial first step students and families take to increase access to a more affordable postsecondary education,” the letter read. “It is our duty to give our students and their families the proper amount of time to decide the best next step for them, and the FAFSA Deadline Act will do just that by codifying an Oct. 1 deadline for the release of the FAFSA.”
The organizations note that institutions faced many issues during the 2024-25 FAFSA processing cycle, where the application officially launched in late December with a number of glitches. According to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, overall first-year enrollment is down by 5% at least in part due to issues with the 2024-2025 FAFSA.
The House is scheduled to vote on the FAFSA Deadline Act this week. Stay tuned to Today’s News for updates on the FAFSA Deadline Act.
Publication Date: 11/14/2024
Paula K | 11/14/2024 8:58:55 PM
Nedi G, I believe that your suggestions might actually slow down the process of awarding and disbursing federal aid. In addition, what will the states do if they don't have access to FAFSA data to award grants and scholarships? FSA/ED has already reformatted the FAFSA to reduce the need for income verification. And why do you think everything else you mentioned is getting in the way of student funding? I can understand not wanting to do the GE and FVT reporting, but R2T4 and SAP are necessary guardrails for us.
Sheree T, thank you for sharing that excerpt of the bill with us. I think it's not possible for ED/FSA to quantify what the financial impact will be for students and families if they can't release the FAFSA by October 1st. For the 24-25 award year, schools and states have had to adjust their deadlines to give the students more time to complete their FAFSAs as ED/FSA was scrambling to fix the technical issues. The students that would be most affected are students who are applying to multiple schools and trying to determine which school would give them the most institutional aid in addition to any standard federal aid they would receive.
Nedi G | 11/14/2024 6:33:20 PM
If FSA is moved to the US Treasury, - let's eliminate the FAFSA altogether. Have schools submit an award origination requests that checks against IRS records and returns a Pell Grant and Loan amount for each student. Eliminate verification, R2T4, FISAP, GE, FVT, SAP and everything else that gets in a way of access to student funding. Sure, there will be some leakage but it's likely a net positive.
Sheree T | 11/14/2024 8:59:04 AM
James, that is a good question. According to the text of the bill (it is linked in the article):
(II) certify to such committees that the Department will not meet such deadline; and
“(ii) in the case of a certification described in clause (i)(II), on a date that is not later than September 30, testify before the authorizing committees on—
“(I) the anticipated failure to meet such deadline; and
“(II) the financial impact such failure will have on students and families.”.
So it seems the answer is the public embarrassment of having to explain to the committee why you failed and the impact your failure will have on students.
I am not sure what else they can do besides fire people, but that is not in the legislation.
James C | 11/14/2024 8:17:06 AM
What are the consequences if it is not released by Oct 1?
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