A resolution condemning the botched rollout by the Department of Education of the FAFSA Simplification Act.

Bill: 118-sres-795
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD]
Introduced: 2024-08-01
Policy area: Education
Latest action: action_date: 2024-08-01
text: Referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text: CR S5787)

Summaries:
action_date: 2024-08-01
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p>This resolution condemns the implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act, calls on the Department of Education to identify the issues that occurred during the implementation and fix those issues before the next federal student aid cycle, and urges the Secretary of Education to testify before Congress.&nbsp;</p>

tv_txt: III 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. RES. 795 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES August 1, 2024 Mr. Rounds (for himself, Mr. Barrasso , Mrs. Blackburn , Mr. Cassidy , Ms. Collins , Mr. Cornyn , Mr. Cramer , Mr. Crapo , Mr. Daines , Mr. Lankford , Ms. Lummis , Mr. Manchin , Mr. Ricketts , Mr. Scott of South Carolina , Mr. Tillis , Mr. Mullin , Mr. Wicker , Mr. Braun , and Mr. Risch ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions RESOLUTION Condemning the botched rollout by the Department of Education of the FAFSA Simplification Act.

Whereas the FAFSA Simplification Act (title VII of division FF of Public Law 116–260 ) was intended to make the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (referred to in this preamble as FAFSA ) simpler and easier to complete for the 2024–2025 academic year; Whereas the Department of Education (referred to in this preamble as the Department ) reported on May 24, 2024, that it had processed more than 10,000,000 FAFSA applications for the 2024–2025 academic year; Whereas, in previous years, the FAFSA application for an academic year opened on October 1st of the preceding year; Whereas the 2024–2025 FAFSA launched on December 31, 2023; Whereas, in previous years, the Department sent out student FAFSA data to institutions of higher education just days after the student filed their FAFSA application; Whereas, for the 2024–2025 school year, the Department did not start sending student FAFSA data to institutions of higher education until the beginning of March; Whereas many students did not receive financial aid awards until after National College Decision Day on May 1, 2024; Whereas Department officials were aware of implementation challenges associated with the rollout of the FAFSA Simplification Act as early as December 2020; Whereas students in pursuit of attending institutions of higher education across the United States depend on the resources made available by FAFSA; Whereas the FAFSA delays have been particularly burdensome for students in foster care and youth experiencing homelessness; Whereas the delay in the 2024–2025 FAFSA application timeline cut down the time students had to weigh options when considering financial components for attending institutions of higher education; and Whereas many offices of financial aid in institutions of higher education fear that this delay will discourage students from attending a college or university in the fall of 2024: Now, therefore, be it

That the Senate— (1) strongly condemns the delayed and problematic rollout of the FAFSA Simplification Act (title VII of division FF of Public Law 116–260 ); (2) calls for the Department of Education to take the necessary actions to identify the issues that led to the botched rollout of the FAFSA Simplification Act and fix them for the 2025–2026 Free Application for Federal Student Aid cycle; and (3) urges the Secretary of Education to testify before the relevant congressional committees regarding the rollout of the FAFSA Simplification Act.