A government investigation offered a look behind the scenes of the federal aid fiasco this week. Financial aid professionals say it confirmed their most cynical suspicions.
Nine months ago, Kiely Fletcher, admissions director and vice president of enrollment management at the University of Illinois at Chicago, woke up to some disconcerting news: Processing for student federal aid forms, a crucial precursor to colleges’ financial aid packaging procedures, would be delayed by months, throwing her entire spring schedule into disarray.
As the rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid continued stumbling along, the gut punches kept coming, from further processing delays to calculation errors that added to her office’s substantial workload. Fletcher said she and her peers felt blindsided almost every week by a new setback. She wondered whether they were as surprising to the department as they were to her.
So she was both dismayed and relieved to read about findings from a Government Accountability Office investigation, detailed in a congressional hearing Tuesday, that appeared to confirm her worst fears. The GAO found that the department “failed to meet promised deadlines and provide colleges with sufficient notice of changes” throughout the application cycle.
Thanks to FAFSA and a couple of academic scholarships, my daughter got a “full ride” at SU about 20 years ago. Then she quickly left the area and is doing quite well for herself.
Right on 10:01, on my tax dollars. She should walk around with a bag over her head, and you should be ashamed of her.
I paid taxes and so did my daughter, since she worked while going to college and made the Dean’s List. And not all of her assistance was from your precious tax dollars, it was from local scholarships. You are the one who should be ashamed for making such an asinine statement! I have been proud and amazed at everything my daughter has accomplished from Day 1. Btw, making that statement to another man’s face might not be a good idea!