Ranking Member Cassidy Delivers Speech Blasting Biden’s FAFSA Failures on National College Decision Day

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, blasted the Biden administration on the Senate floor for its failure to properly implement the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) program. These continued delays prevent students and families from accessing crucial financial aid information as they choose the college they can afford to attend. Today, May 1, is National College Decision Day for many students around the country.  

Despite FAFSA normally being ready by October, the Biden administration failed to get the system fully up and running until late January. The Department of Education (DeptEd) was then delayed by months in getting the information to colleges until March.  

In April, DeptEd announced roughly 30 percent of FAFSA forms had processing or data errors and need to be reprocessed. These forms will not be reprocessed until after the May 1 deadline, preventing colleges from creating financial aid offers to students. This comes as many schools nationwide require students to choose their college by May 1, forcing students to make this life-changing decision with zero information about their eligibility for financial aid.  

“Some students will decide not to go to school because they don't know if they can afford it. Some universities will have a cash flow problem because the students that might go there for enrollment will not,” said Dr. Cassidy. “What is doubly frustrating is that the administration has been doing things they shouldn't have been doing instead of doing that which they should have done…They've been working on student loan ‘forgiveness’, which really means student loan transfer of debt from those who willingly took that student loan debt on and transferring it to someone who either paid back their loan or never went to college.”

“I invite my Democratic colleagues to come on board and hold the administration accountable,” continued Dr. Cassidy. “This should not be partisan. It is about the students. It is about the parents. It is about the integrity of a process that the Department of Education has totally failed at.”

Earlier this year, HELP Committee Republicans launched a website hotline for students, guidance counselors, college admissions faculty, financial aid administrators and others to report issues they have had with the FAFSA process. Those who have experienced complications with FAFSA can access the hotline at www.help.senate.gov/FAFSA. 

While DeptEd has failed to implement FAFSA, it has prioritized transferring the burden of college debt onto taxpayers who chose not to go to college or already paid off their loans. A recent non-partisan analysis indicated that these student loan schemes could cost American taxpayers up to $1.4 trillion. 

Click here to watch Cassidy’s full speech.     

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