NORFOLK, Va. — Virginia U.S. Sen. Mark Warner says he's keeping up the pressure on the federal Department of Education to resolve financial aid woes that have plagued the college application season.
The Democratic senator touched upon the issues during a conversation with reporters Thursday afternoon.
"You can't make it a nightmare to sort through this information," said Warner, who had to rely on financial aid to pay for his college education. "If I had not gotten student aid and frankly, if I had not also worked almost 30 hours a week for my sophomore through senior year of college, I wouldn't have afforded to go."
Warner confirmed he has sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona urging him to make the process as easy as possible. He's calling for the Department of Education Office of Inspector General (OIG) to issue a quick review of problems with the form’s rollout and provide a course for corrective action.
Problems popped up this college application season when the department rolled out a new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, better known as FAFSA, with considerably fewer questions than the old form.
That didn't make the process easier.
Access to the new form was delayed until January 2024. Students should have been able to start filling out the form in October of 2023. This, in turn, has delayed students finding out how much aid they qualify for.
"We may have students who are deferring for an entire year because they are not being able to get the student assistance," Warner said.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is already investigating a full-scale review of the FAFSA rollout.
The deadline to complete and submit a FAFSA form for the 2024-25 school year is June 30.
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