OHIO, USA — The U.S. Department of Education is offering added support to colleges and universities dealing with the fallout from delays in the federal financial aid system.
The updated support comes after the DOE announced last month that they will not release student information from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) until March, instead of late January as previously stated. Support measures for schools include reducing verification requirements, suspending new program reviews, and providing flexibility on the recertification process for federal student aid programs.
Just last week, the department said it would be deploying federal personnel to schools with limited resources, specifically Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), tribal colleges and universities, and colleges that have fewer tools at their disposal in general.
"With us being a smaller school, we really have to push," Shatnell Coleman, director of financial aid at Wilberforce University, told 3News. "My staff is a department of three, so everyone is hands on."
Wilberforce is one of two HBCUs in Ohio. According to a university spokesperson, the school has 590 students enrolled for the spring semester.
In a press release from Tuesday, the Department of Education announced that "starting this week, FSA (Federal Student Aid) will be reaching out to a first set of schools to offer support and expects to start deploying teams in the new two weeks." The department will also be allocating $50 million in federal funding to nonprofit groups that specialize in financial aid support and services.
Additionally, the DOE will release test student financial aid records — known as the Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) — by Feb. 16. Colleges can use these test ISIRs to prepare their systems and processes to develop financial aid packages.
"All institutions, we need help," Coleman said. "We just want to make sure that everyone gets awarded properly so they can make the correct decision on where they want to go."
The updated support from the DOE comes just one day after lawmakers, including Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona questioning the department's response to FAFSA delays.
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