What’s New
Colleges continue to see disruptions in the federal-aid process months after major staff cuts at the U.S. Department of Education, and the impacts on students appear to be intensifying.
Those findings come from a new survey released on Wednesday by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, known as NASFAA. More than 500 financial-aid officers at colleges nationwide completed the survey, which was conducted in July. The results suggest that the backbone of the financial-aid process has been weakened — and some students’ access to federal funds they need for college could be at risk.
The Details
After massive layoffs at the Education Department and the Office of Federal Student Aid, known as FSA, this spring, NASFAA conducted a national survey of its members in May to see how much those cuts were affecting colleges’ operations, as well as students’ access to federal aid. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they had experienced noticeable changes in the FSA’s responsiveness, communication, or processing timelines.
But the findings of the follow-up survey paint a more concerning picture. In May, for instance, 32 percent of respondents said that students were reporting concerns or confusion about the federal-aid process; in July, 51 percent did so.
Meanwhile, 60 percent of colleges reported students asking more questions about accessing federal aid since May. Though such inquiries tend to increase during the summer, many respondents said that this year’s volume was higher than usual.
“Some of it is likely that students are starting to latch on to media coverage about the One Big Beautiful Bill and they are anxious about changes coming in the future,” Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at NASFAA, told The Chronicle on Tuesday. “But you also have students who are reaching out to the Department of Education and struggling to get direct support. And those students are now turning to their institutions for help.”
NASFAA’s analysis of the findings said that federal support channels for students are “breaking down.” Fifty-three percent of colleges reported problems with federal call centers; 47 percent reported issues with the National Student Loan Data System; and 36 percent reported problems with student-loan servicing.
The percentage of colleges reporting disruptions in FSA’s communication, responsiveness, or processing timelines increased to 72 percent in July, up from 59 percent in May. While some processing delays that colleges are seeing predate the layoffs at the department, the loss of staff appears to have exacerbated those delays, McCarthy said.
In May, 32 percent of colleges reported disruptions to the systems that turn the wheels of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid process. This summer, 43 percent said the same.
The Stakes
The Education Department’s work force is about half as large as it was at the beginning of the year. As the fall semester begins, colleges are gaining a clearer sense of how that drastic cut in staffing might affect their financial-aid offices and the students they enroll.
“We’re seeing a little bit of fraying of the system,” McCarthy said. “We have some concerns about what that might portend for the upcoming year, and that it might lead to a much larger breakdown and much more significant disruptions, both for colleges and for students. Colleges are getting ready to make their first big financial-aid disbursements for the school year. If things go awry there, then everybody feels it, from financial-aid administrators to other offices within the institution. And, of course, the students who need that money in order to pay their bills and pay their rent.”
