Education Department admits ‘challenging year’ for FAFSA: ‘We’re not at the point we would like to be’

THE HILL

Lexi Lonas

April 18, 2024

The Department of Education acknowledged Thursday that it’s been a “challenging year” for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process as officials are desperate to get more forms filled out.

“We’re not at the point we would like to be at,” Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal told reporters before revealing about 7.7 million FAFSA applications have been received from college applicants. Around 18 million forms are filed in a typical year.

“Here’s my message: If you have been waiting for the dust to settle before you fill out a FAFSA, make a correction, the time is now,” Kvaal said. “If you’re a student waiting for your college to send a financial aid offer, please know that you are not alone. Colleges are working hard to get you the information you need.”

Out of the FAFSA applications, 1.2 million need corrections from students or contributors, mainly needing signatures or permission to receive tax data from the IRS. Another 700,000 FAFSA forms have errors due to incorrect tabulation of contributions from assets. Lastly, 1.2 million applications were processed with incorrect tax data.

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