FAFSA Update: Challenges and Improvements in Student Aid

The Education Department faces challenges with FAFSA system updates and contractor oversight, yet shows improvements in form launches and user experience. GAO raises concerns over contract management.

As of May 2025, the Education Department could not supply an update on the system and stated it was no much longer tracking the legal requirements, according to the GAO record. GAO suggested that Federal Pupil Help’s principal running policeman take actions to boost contract surveillance.

GAO Report on FAFSA System

Education and learning Departmentofficials billed the launch as the “earliest launch in the program’s background.” The brand-new form comes with a number of updates, including an upgraded procedure for welcoming moms and dads or various other contributors to add info to the applicationand much faster account verification for pupils and parents, according to the agency.

This year, the Education and learning Department began beta testing the type in very early August. During that period, pupils started almost 44,000 FAFSA types and submitted roughly 27,000 of them, according to the division. The firm has refined nearly 24,000 FAFSA types without denial.

FAFSA Beta Testing and Refinements

“This is undoubtedlya valuable feature and one that ought to be included in the FAFSA,” Lemon-Strausssaid to GAO. “Yet, rather than mechanically moving to carrying out revival ability, the group analyzed user information to figure out where their next efforts would be maximally beneficial.”

In September 2024, the Education Division told GAO authorities that a number of features needed by an agreement with a third-party supplier were not yet offered, including the capacity to make corrections to FAFSA applications and customize eligibility policies. At the time, the division claimed those features would certainly be offered by 2026.

Contractual Issues and Delays

Lemon-Strauss, who signed up with the department in 2015, said the company has actually made modifications to its FAFSA supplier agreements that permit it to adjust to user demands. For instance, after the 2024 FAFSA launch, division authorities determined that the FAFSA system still did not allow individuals to import their answers from the prior year to begin their new types– a contractually required feature.

Additionally, the Education and learning Department didn’t begin sending FAFSA candidate information to colleges that financial aid cycle till March 2024, even though that information is normally available shortly after the kind presents in October.Scores of colleges pushed back their traditional May 1 choice due date consequently.

Informa PLC’s licensed office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. TechTarget, Inc.’s authorized workplace is 275 Grove St. Newton, MA 02466.

User Experience Improvements

Inner data revealed that some 5% of individuals were exiting the type and not returning as soon as they needed to invite their parents or other factors– such as a parent or a partner’s partner– to work with the application.In feedback, the Education and learning Department decided to prioritize upgrading the process to invite outdoors factors as opposed to focusing on the contractually required function, Lemon-Strauss claimed.

This web site is had and run by Informa TechTarget, part of an international network that notifies, connects the globe and affects’s innovation purchasers and vendors. All copyright lives with them. Informa PLC’s authorized office is 5 Howick Location, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. TechTarget, Inc.’s registered office is 275 Grove St. Newton, MA 02466.

“Nobody would have thought this was possible after the Biden-Harris administration infamously mishandled FAFSA’s rollout two brief years ago,” U.S. Education And Learning Assistant Linda McMahon said in a Wednesday declaration.

This year, the Education Division started beta checking the form in very early August. During that duration, trainees began almost 44,000 FAFSA types and sent about 27,000 of them, according to the division. The firm has refined nearly 24,000 FAFSA types without rejection.

Legislative Mandates for FAFSA Release

In action, congressional lawmakers passed a regulation in November 2024 mandating that the Education Division release the type by Oct. 1 each year.The law also requires the U.S. education and learning secretary to indicate prior to Congress if the firm expects it will certainly miss out on the target date.

The on-time FAFSA adheres to later than typical launches the past 2 years. In 2023, the Education Department didn’t present the FAFSA until the final days of December– virtually three months after students and their family members usually can access the kind.

In 2023, the Biden management was responsible for performing the very first major redesign of the FAFSA in over 4 decades, including by curtailing the variety of concerns applicants must address. Also after the Education Division launched the FAFSA in December that year, numerous pupils and households had a hard time to complete the kind due to problems and various other technological concerns.

Criticism and Government Oversight

The GAO’s record consisted of a feedback from Aaron Lemon-Strauss, executive director of the FAFSA program, who pushed back on GAO’s framework. Lemon-Strausswrote that some of its recommendations embrace a design that “presumes initial agreements can completely expect a system’s progressing needs.”

Nevertheless, this financial aid cycle hasn’t come without criticism. A record previously this month from the united state Government Accountability Workplace, a government guard dog firm, questioned about whether the Education Division was adequately managing contracted service the new back-end system released in 2023 for handling FAFSAs.