Ella Madsen

Following recent changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, Richard Cordray, the chief operating officer for Federal Student Aid in the U.S. Department of Education, will be stepping down from his role in late June of this year.
Cordray’s decision came after significant congressional pressures and several complaints to the Federal Aid office citing major issues in the FAFSA’s rollout in late Dec. of 2023. Speaking with USA Today, he explained that his office “has achieved key milestones in his three-year term,” but he agreed to stay on for an interim transition period before ultimately stepping away from his role.
The changes aimed to make federal aid more reachable to low-income and qualifying families for 2024-25 and the following years, but with a rocky release, many families found it more difficult to fill out the revised form. As the FAFSA had previously become available in Oct. for each following year, the later Dec. rollout also created significant delays for both students and university financial aid offices.
Students already enrolled in a university are struggling to receive and verify the newest year of financial aid, and fewer high school students are completing the form. By April 19, “only 32.9% of the country’s high school seniors had completed the FAFSA—29% fewer than the last academic year,” data from the National College Attainment Network explains. This drop in numbers also disrupts the plans of many high school students looking to attend college this fall. Difficulties with the new FAFSA rollout have made it challenging for students to see which universities will be affordable to them and have thus impacted many students’ decisions to enroll at any institution.
Long-term, the changes to the FAFSA are expected by officials to be largely beneficial for families and students in attaining college aid, and work has already been done to improve the form’s quality since Dec. However, until all the glitches, errors and difficulties of its most recent update are cleared and trust is re-established, it is unlikely that these benefits will be recognized.