Erika Donalds
The federal government has fumbled one of its largest obligations in education.
The result is chaos for colleges and millions of students who depend on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to access loans and scholarships.
The lack of accountability raises a deeper question: Why do federal bureaucrats have so much power over our education system? They clearly haven’t earned it.
As students return to classes and dorm rooms, the headlines keep rolling in about the widespread impact of the FAFSA fiasco.
Due to confusion from the lack of completed federal forms, Minnesota left many students’ aid packages short by hundreds or thousands of dollars.
In North Carolina, Queens College administrators announced budget cuts and layoffs after the “turbulent rollout” of FAFSA “wreaked havoc” on students’ college plans.
A small liberal arts college in the Blue Ridge Mountains lost nearly a fourth of its incoming freshmen after students struggled to secure financial aid.
These stories are typical of the disruptions plaguing college applications and enrollment across the country.
As a mom of one college student and a high school senior, I experienced the confusion firsthand. After months of peppering parents with emails and blog posts teasing a more “user-friendly” experience, we ended up with a lot of confusion and wasted energy.
Now the U.S. Department of Education is delaying the release of this year’s financial aid form an extra two months to buy more time to fix the mess.
College financial aid is the federal education agency’s biggest, most expensive job. But it isn’t the only one.
The Education Department also doles out tens of billions of dollars each year to K-12 schools, mostly to help low-income students and students with special needs.
It’s past time for taxpayers and their elected representatives to ask whether the Department has earned this responsibility – or whether we’d be better off if the federal bureaucrats got out of the way. » Read More
https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/why-do-federal-bureaucrats-have-so-much-power-over-our-education-system