Press Release
☷U S Department of Education Announces Latest Steps to Support Schools and Students with Better FAFSA
U.S. Department of Education ( By Press Release office)
Feb 13,2024
| 9| 1
The U . S . Department of Education just announced some new steps to support schools and students with the FAFSA form . Their main goal is to make it easier for students to access financial aid and make college more affordable . Since the new FAFSA form came out , almost 4 million forms have already been submitted . The new steps they announced will help schools process records faster and spend more time helping students . They ' re reducing verification requirements , suspending routine school reviews , and giving schools more flexibility with federal aid programs . They ' re also releasing test versions of records for schools to practice with and launching open - source tools to support institutions . These steps are part of the Better FAFSA College Support Strategy . The Department is also sending federal personnel to help under - resourced colleges , providing a concierge service , allocating funding for assistance , and releasing tools to help colleges prepare . Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said they ' re committed to making the FAFSA process easier and simpler for everyone involved . Thanks to the new FAFSA form , the Department now has direct data exchange with the IRS , which means they ' re getting most of the income data they need without having to verify it . This is a big relief for colleges and students because it reduces the burden and prevents fraud . The Department has also decided to suspend new program reviews until June 2024 , unless there are serious issues like fraud or breach of duty . Colleges going through a program review can also request more time to respond . This flexibility allows financial aid offices to focus on helping students instead of dealing with paperwork . Additionally , the Department is giving schools more time to recertify their eligibility for federal student aid programs . Instead of the usual 90 - day requirement , schools with expiring agreements in March , June , or September 2024 can submit their recertification application on the expiration day . This gives schools a break when they need it most , so they can concentrate on getting aid to students . The Department is also providing extra support to under - resourced schools , including HBCUs and TCUs , by deploying federal experts to them . They ' re selecting schools based on factors like the percentage of Pell students and resource constraints . FSA will be reaching out to schools this week and plans to start sending teams in the next two weeks . Also , the Department has recently introduced a new concierge service within FSA . This service aims to connect colleges with financial aid experts who can offer personalized assistance based on each institution ' s specific needs . The Department has set aside $50 million in federal funding to support non - profit groups that specialize in financial aid services . These groups will use the funds to recruit professionals who can provide additional technical assistance and support to under - resourced colleges . Participating colleges will receive extra staff support to help with tasks like evaluating their financial aid systems and implementing necessary updates , training staff , creating aid packages , and ensuring compliance with student aid regulations . Additionally , the Department will release test versions of Institutional Student Information Records ( ISIRs ) by February 16 . These test ISIRs will allow colleges and their partners to prepare their own systems and processes for efficiently putting together aid packages . The Department will also provide open - source tools to assist institutions that use test ISIRs .
PLAY the NEWS
* May be useful for visually impaired persons .
Press release information:
Direct link to press release:
Click here .
