Fafsa Deadline Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that frustrates so many Americans is that our government has gotten involved in doing many things that it really shouldn't be doing, so many excessive regulations and outsized bureaucracies. Then, all too often, it fails to competently perform the basic functions the people actually expect from the government and that they are entitled to as taxpayers. The FAFSA fiasco is a very clear example of that.

Every year, high school students across the country fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The FAFSA opens doors for millions of students nationwide, ensuring that postsecondary education is accessible and affordable.

Traditionally, the form is released by October 1, giving students and their families plenty of time to decide what postsecondary option is right for them. Unfortunately, the Department of Education has neglected its core responsibility to these students.

The Department's failure to meet deadlines has created unnecessary uncertainty for students and families already struggling with the college application process, which is already stressful to begin with.

The FAFSA Simplification Act passed in 2020 was supposed to make the application process easier to navigate. The Department was even given an extra year to ensure a smooth rollout of the revised form. However, despite that extended timeline, it failed to deliver on time, and the ones who suffered the most were the students who could least afford it.

The Department knew as early as August 2022 that they would miss the October 1, 2023, deadline but then failed to inform the public. Eight months later, they announced a delay until ``sometime in December,'' and we had to wait until the last day of the year for a so-called soft launch. This incomplete rollout left critical parts of the form completely unusable.

Even more troubling, the Department abused the statutory gap that allows the release by January 1 by not even being fully prepared for that hard cutoff. When processing finally began, millions of applications were riddled with calculation errors, forcing reprocessing and causing chaos for students and institutions.

The consequences were devastating. About 430,000 fewer students filed a FAFSA this year compared to last year. To make matters worse, millions of calls for help went unanswered. Families were left in the dark, scrambling for answers with no support during one of the most critical periods in a child's academic journey.

This is why I am proud to cosponsor H.R. 8932, the FAFSA Deadline Act. This bill would hold the Department of Education accountable by setting a hard deadline of October 1 for releasing the FAFSA and requiring an accountability check-in each September to ensure they stay on track.

Mr. Speaker, I urge colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this important legislation.

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