In a Feb. 9, 2024 Electronic Announcement, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) provided further details on the three components of the Department’s FAFSA College Support Strategy. The FAFSA College Support Strategy deploys additional personnel, dedicates funding for technical assistance and support, and delivers additional tools to help colleges prepare to package students’ financial aid as quickly and accurately as possible.
This Electronic Announcement highlights additional steps announced by the Department today.
Making it Easier and More Efficient for Schools to Process Student Records
Today, the Department of Education is announcing steps to help colleges process student records faster and more efficiently. This includes:
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Significantly reducing verification requirements. This year, the Department will be significantly reducing verification requirements, while continuing key measures focused on avoiding identity fraud. In past years, the Department selected a much larger portion of FAFSA applicants for colleges to verify. More recently, the Department has gradually reduced that verification rate to more effectively target verification efforts while alleviating burdens for millions of students and thousands of schools. With the implementation of the direct data exchange with the IRS, made possible by this year’s overhauled FAFSA form, the Department is receiving the vast majority of income data directly from the IRS, which would not need to be further verified. This year’s significant reduction in verifications will reduce the burden for colleges and students while continuing to protect against fraud.
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Suspending new routine program reviews. As part of its oversight duties, the Department routinely conducts program reviews to confirm a college meets the Department’s requirements for institutional eligibility, financial responsibility, and administrative capability. The Department will suspend all new program reviews through June 2024, except for those related to the most serious issues like suspected fraud or a severe breach of fiduciary duty. Institutions with an ongoing program review can also request extensions for responses to program reviews, reports, or requests for additional documentation. This flexibility will reduce the time that colleges’ financial aid offices need to devote to producing documentation and responding to Department inquiries during the time they need to focus on quickly getting aid award offers to students.
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Providing additional flexibility on recertification. Institutions are currently required to routinely recertify eligibility for the Department’s federal student aid programs no later than 90 days before their Program Participation Agreement (PPA) expires. The Department will waive that 90-day requirement for schools whose PPA expires in March, June, or September 2024, meaning these schools have until their expiration day to submit a recertification application. Providing this flexibility will give time back to institutions at a critical moment and enable them to focus their resources on getting students the aid they need.
Deploying Expertise, Funding, and Tools to Help Colleges Make the Most of Better FAFSA
These steps build upon the work underway to support colleges and students through the Department’s FAFSA College Support Strategy.
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Deploying federal personnel. FSA is deploying teams of federal experts to under-resourced colleges. Through this effort, the Department will serve colleges that need additional personalized help, including HBCUs and TCUs that would like the support. Schools will be selected based on a number of criteria, including percentage of Pell students, resource constraints, and other indications of need. Starting this week, FSA will be reaching out to a first set of schools to offer support and expects to start deploying teams in the next two weeks. In addition, over the past week, the Department has created a new concierge service within FSA, which is providing a broad set of colleges direct contact with financial aid experts to provide them personalized support based on the institution’s needs.
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Dedicating funding to provide technical assistance and support. The Department is allocating $50 million in federal funding that will be provided to non-profit groups specializing in financial aid support and services. These groups will use these funds to recruit financial aid professionals to provide additional technical assistance and support, beyond the federal teams deployed by the Department, for under-resourced colleges. Participating colleges will receive additional staff support to deliver services such as assessing financial aid system readiness and implementing necessary updates, training staff, developing aid packages, and carrying out other student aid compliance requirements.
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Delivering test student financial aid records by the end of the week. By February 16, the Department will begin releasing test versions of Institutional Student Information Records (test ISIRs). These test ISIRs will enable colleges and their critical partners to prepare their own systems and processes to efficiently assemble aid packages. In addition, the Department will also provide open-source tools to support institutions using test ISIRs.
Letters to Presidents of Title IV Participating Institutions
This week, the Department is also sending a letter from the Secretary via email to leadership at all institutions of higher education alerting them to the support and services available to them under the FAFSA College Support Strategy. As previously shared, all Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and other under-resourced schools will receive technical and consultative assistance from FSA directly and through the Department’s partnership with the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) and the Partnership for Education Advancement. This assistance may include additional staff support to assess financial aid system readiness and implement necessary updates, train staff, develop aid packages, and carry out other student aid requirements. Other high-need institutions will receive targeted support based upon certain criteria, such as known past challenges administering their student aid program, to ensure they receive support in adjusting to the new 2024-25 FAFSA form requirements and getting financial aid packages out to students.
Schools may submit their request for resources via the new concierge service via e-mail. We will continue to share additional information and resources in the coming weeks on the Knowledge Center.