Ranking Member Cassidy, Chairwoman Foxx Urge GAO to Investigate FAFSA System Failures Amid Botched Rollout

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, urged the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate reported issues with the information technology (IT) system used by the U.S. Department of Education (DeptEd) in its botched rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). 

In 2021, DeptEd announced that it would modernize and revamp its FAFSA IT system by December 2023, but FAFSA was only available to students for a mere 30 minutes on December 30^th. DeptEd announced the next day that it had identified issues with the FAFSA IT system and would be initiating pauses to the website to conduct maintenance.  

According to reports, the FAFSA IT system was available sporadically for only three hours from December 30^th to January 2^nd, and was not fully accessible for use until January 6^th. Additionally, applicants reported multiple issues with the FAFSA website, including repeated loading screens, “Please Wait” pages, and errors with submitting the form. 

Cassidy and Foxx seek information on if DeptEd properly tested the FAFSA IT system before it became available to students and the extent to which DeptEd knew about these issues before the rollout. 

“Based on the initial poor user experience, we have significant questions about the extent to which the FAFSA Processing System underwent all needed testing, what system issues were uncovered in testing, and the decision-making process to roll out the system with known issues,” wrote the lawmakers. “Accordingly, we request that GAO review the recent launch of the FAFSA Processing System.” 

At a recent press conference, Cassidy announced that following a bicameral request from Republican lawmakers, GAO has begun an investigation into DeptEd’s incompetent mishandling of FAFSA. Additionally, Cassidy wrote a Newsweek op-ed slamming the Biden administration’s botched FAFSA rollout and its severe impacts on students and families. 

To report issues you have had with the FAFSA process, visit: www.help.senate.gov/FAFSA. 

Read the full letter here or below.

Dear Comptroller General Dodaro:

The Department of Education’s (Education) Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) is the largest provider of student financial aid in the nation. In fiscal year 2022, the office processed about 17 million Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms (paper and electronic) and delivered approximately $110.7 billion in aid to about 10 million postsecondary students and their families.¹

Each student applying for federal financial aid must complete a FAFSA, either electronically or on a paper copy, which is used to determine student aid eligibility. Until recently, most of the FAFSA forms have been submitted electronically through Education’s Central Processing System (CPS). However, FSA has reported that CPS is an expensive and outdated legacy system.

In 2021, FSA initiated a multi-project program called the Student Aid and Borrower Eligibility Reform (SABER) initiative, which, among other things, is intended to replace and modernize CPS. This CPS replacement project within SABER is referred to as the Award Eligibility Determination project. In June 2023, GAO reported that this project was in need of additional testing before it could achieve its goal of fully implementing the project by December 2023 and begin processing FAFSA forms in a new system, referred to as the FAFSA Processing System, by January 2024 for the 2024-2025 application cycle.²

On December 31, 2023, Education posted on its Federal Student Aid X account (formerly known as Twitter) that the Department started the “soft launch” of the 2024-25 FAFSA form on December 30.³ The post added that Education would be monitoring site performance during this launch period, initiating pauses to the site to conduct maintenance, and that Education had identified some minor issues affecting user experience. On January 1, 2024, Education posted to X that the form was available “for short periods of time to ensure a better experience for students and families.”⁴

However, media reports paint a more frustrating user experience than what Education communicated on social media. According to one media report, the application was available for only three hours from December 30, 2023, through January 2, 2024.⁵ In addition, many applicants experienced repeated loading screens, “Please Wait” pages, errors in submission, and other issues, according to a separate media report.⁶

Based on the initial poor user experience, we have significant questions about the extent to which the FAFSA Processing System underwent all needed testing, what system issues were uncovered in testing, and the decision-making process to roll out the system with known issues. Accordingly, we request that GAO review the recent launch of the FAFSA Processing System. In formulating its specific objectives for this work, we ask that GAO consider the following:

1. To what extent did FSA perform needed testing on the system used to submit the 2024-25 FAFSA form?

2. What system issues were identified as part of testing and to what extent were those issues resolved?

3. To what extent were Education and FSA leadership aware of system issues and involved in launch decision-making?

4. What system issues remain unresolved and does FSA have plans to address them?

5. To what extent has Education and FSA established and implemented a process to gather lessons learned from this launch ensuring that these lessons are incorporated in future system releases?

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