Ranking Member Cassidy on Senate Passage of His Legislation Requiring FAFSA to be Available on October 1, Now Heads to President’s Desk

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a statement after the U.S. Senate unanimously passed his legislation requiring the Department of Education (DeptEd) to make the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form available to students each year on October 1. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill unanimously. The legislation will now head to the President's desk.

"The Biden-Harris FAFSA delays forced students to choose their college without knowing their financial aid status, or not attend college at all because they didn't know if they could afford it. No student should have their dreams threatened because of bureaucratic incompetence," said Dr. Cassidy. "This commonsense bill holds the Department of Education accountable and ensures students have the financial information to choose the best, affordable college option for them. It should be signed into law without delay."

Before 2023, the annual FAFSA form was typically available by October 1, giving students and schools enough time to fill out the application and process financial aid offers ahead of acceptance deadlines.

In 2023, the Biden-Harris DeptEd blew past crucial deadlines for FAFSA, and students could not fill out the form until months after the annual October 1 launch. This bureaucratic delay resulted in students not receiving their financial aid letters until after the May 1 deadline to enroll. As a result of DeptEd's FAFSA blunders, 432,000 potential college applicants did not complete the FAFSA form at all last year. In August, DeptEd announced that the FAFSA form for next school year will not be ready until December, delayed months after the normal October deadline.

Instead of implementing FAFSA correctly, the Biden-Harris administration prioritized its student loan schemes, which transfer nearly $1 trillion in debt onto Americans who chose not to attend college or already worked to pay off their loans.

###

For all news and updates from HELP Republicans, visit our website or Twitter at @GOPHELP.Click hereto unsubscribe.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Tweet