WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced a resolution yesterday along with 17 of their Senate GOP colleagues slamming the Biden-Harris Administration’s botched rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2024-2025 school year. The resolution condemns the continued problematic rollout, calls for the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to identify and fix any issues for this year, and asks leaders to testify before congressional committees regarding the disastrous rollout.

Text is below, and you can view the full resolution here.

“Whereas the FAFSA Simplification Act was intended to make the Free Application for Federal Student Aid simpler and easier to complete for the 2024–2025 academic year;

Whereas the Department of Education 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

Resolved, 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.”

The resolution was led by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) and is cosponsored by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN.), Susan Collins (R-ME), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Steve Daines (R-MT), James Lankford (R-OK), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Joe Manchin (I-WV), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Jim Risch (R-ID), Tim Scott (R-SC), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Roger Wicker (R-MS). 

Background:

FAFSA historically has opened applications on October 1 of the year prior to the start of the academic school year. For the academic year of 2024-2025, the applications opened 3 months later in December. ED subsequently did not start sending FAFSA data to universities until March. Because of this delay, many students did not receive their financial aid awards until after May 1, 2024, the date that many institutions require students to commit to attending for the fall semester.

For the academic year of 2025-2026, ED has already announced that the applications will again be delayed until December of this year.