Barragán, García, Huffman, Allred Call for Permanent Solution for FAFSA Form Technical Error
WASHINGTON, DC — To address the challenges and delays that students from mixed-status families whose parent(s) do not have a Social Security Number have faced using the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Congressional Hispanic Caucus Member Jesús “Chuy'' García (IL-04), and Representatives Jared Huffman (CA-02), Colin Allred (TX-32), and 88 of their colleagues wrote a letter to the Department of Education (Department) to outline their concerns.
In their letter, the Members urged the Department to quickly resolve the technical glitch that impacts students from mixed-status families and calls on the Department to provide a timeline for when the issues will be resolved. They also asked the Department to collaborate with schools and state governments to alleviate the issue and conduct outreach to inform students, counselors, and stakeholders of an expected solution and how to submit the form, once resolved.
Following the letter, the Department produced written guidance, for students and families in this situation, on how to submit the FAFSA forms as the Department works on a long-term solution to the technical issue.
Read the full letter here.
“Parents’ legal status should not affect the receipt of financial aid packages for eligible students. Tens of thousands of U.S. citizen students and families, many of them Latino, have been put at risk of not meeting college deadlines for financial aid determinations because of a glitch in the new FAFSA form. Students with at least one parent who does not have a Social Security Number were unable to submit their FAFSA forms until the Department issued these new guidelines. The CHC appreciates this short-term fix, but a permanent solution is needed, and the Department has to prevent similar problems from occurring in the future.” said CHC Chair Barragán.
“Students eligible for financial aid have the right to access that aid, regardless of their parents’ citizenship status. But because of a technical error in the new FAFSA form, many of my constituents from immigrant and mixed-status families were left without answers and no path forward as college financial aid deadlines crept up,” said Rep. García. “My colleagues and I spent weeks urging the Department of Education to address this issue, and it's a good thing the Department has finally heeded our call by issuing these temporary guidelines. But let’s not confuse this action with an adequate answer to the full set of concerns we outlined in our letter. The Department must continue to rectify these errors in rollout so no student is blocked from the aid they need.”
“If you’re a U.S. citizen, the immigration status of your parents should not be a barrier to receiving federal financial aid for higher education. But due to an error in the new FAFSA form, students in my district and across America are hitting a wall, preventing them from getting the support they depend on to get a quality education,” said Rep. Huffman. “After weeks of working with the Department of Education (ED) to elevate this issue, we’re glad to see it has provided guidance on a temporary workaround for certain students – but we need permanent solutions for all students, and we need them now. I want to see ED finalize an actual fix and implement the rest of the solutions we laid out in our letter to make sure these inequities are completely behind us.”
The new guidelines set by the Department of Education allows students whose contributor does not have a SSN and students who have a timely deadline to submit FAFSA for state, institutional, or scholarship aid to follow a new set of instructions on how to submit. The Department claims the technical issues will be resolved in the first half of March, in which they can then submit a complete application.
Members signing the letter: Pete Aguilar (CA-33), Earl Blumenauer (OR-03), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Brendan Boyle (PA-02), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Yadira Caraveo (CO-08), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), André Carson (IN-07), Greg Casar (TX-35), Kathy Castor (FL-14), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Judy Chu (CA-28), Lou Correa (CA-46), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Lloyd Doggett (TX-35), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Valerie Foushee (NC-04), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), John Garamendi (CA-08), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), Val Hoyle (OR-04), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Robin Kelly (IL-02), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Andy Kim (NJ-03), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03), Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Seth Magaziner (RI-02), Kathy Manning (NC-06), Betty McCollum (MN-04), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Grace Meng (NY-06), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Kevin Mullin (CA-15), Grace Napolitano (CA-31), Joe Neguse (CA-02), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Frank Pallone (NJ-06), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), Donald Payne Jr. (NJ-10), Scott Peters (CA-50), Brittany Pettersen (CO-07), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Katie Porter (CA-47), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Raul Ruiz (CA-25), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Linda Sánchez (CA-38), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Adam Schiff (CA-30), Adam Smith (WA-09), Darren Soto (FL-09), Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Greg Stanton (AZ-04), Haley Stevens (MI-11), Eric Swalwell (CA-14), Mark Takano (CA-35), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Norma Torres (CA-35), Ritchie Torres (NY-15), Lori Trahan (MA-03), David Trone (MD-06), Lauren Underwood (IL-14), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Gabe Vasquez (NM-02), Marc Veasey (TX-33), Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Nikema Williams (GA-05), Frederica Wilson (FL-24)
Organizations endorsing the letter: American School Superintendents Association (AASA), California Community Colleges, City Colleges of Chicago, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, College of DuPage, HANA Center, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), Illinois Head Start, Immigration Hub, ImmSchools, Instituto del Progreso Latino, Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services (LARES) at University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), Moraine Valley Community College, Morton College, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), National Education Association (NEA), National Federation of Teachers (NFT), National Immigrant Law Center (NILC), Northeastern Illinois University, The Education Trust, Western Illinois Dreamers, American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC)
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