By Elizabeth Morgan, Chief External Relations Officer, and Catherine Brown, Senior Director, Policy and Advocacy
Reading time: Two minutes
Yesterday, the Trump Administration initiated a massive reduction in force and other layoffs, impacting nearly half of the staff
of the US Department of Education (ED). While ED’s announcement states that the department “will continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for
special needs students, and competitive grantmaking," the magnitude of staffing cuts announced raises serious questions about ED’s ability to fulfill this promise.
Seven million students from low-income backgrounds in all 50 states rely on the Pell Grant to pursue education after high school each year. From producing and processing Free Applications for Federal Student Aid (FAFSAs) to providing guidance to students
and families on all aspects of financial aid, the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) runs complicated processes that profoundly impact American families, employers, and the nation’s economy. FSA’s work is highly specialized. Systems have been developed
over decades to meet the needs of students and higher education providers in real time, each and every semester.
The stability of the federal financial aid system is paramount if higher education – our country’s greatest engine of economic and social mobility – is going to function. Last year, we saw the impact of unreliability in the federal financial aid system.
FAFSA completion rates among high school seniors ended almost 10% below the prior year.
Thanks to the hard work of the team at ED and FSA over the last year, FAFSA is finally functioning again, and completion rates are rebounding. Gutting the agency that runs FAFSA will only undermine students’ already depleted confidence in federal
student aid and put at risk the hard-won progress of many months.
Even if the staff and contractors that process FAFSA and work at the FSA Information Center, or call center, are largely spared from the cuts, a significant loss of staff in other functions and areas will strain all ED functions including communications,
training, and resources for practitioners. The call center fields questions about all aspects of federal student aid from FSA ID creation to loan repayment. Cuts could lead to long wait times for students.
As always, we at the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) will pay close attention to your input about students’ FAFSA completion experiences as well as weekly FAFSA completion data. Please contact us if you experience any new FAFSA-related challenges
that could be related to the staff reductions. We will share more information as it becomes available.
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