Republicans Demand Probe of Biden’s ‘botched’ Student Aid Program Rollout; White House Cancels $5B in Student Debt for 74K Borrowers; Biden’s Student Loan Debt Forgiveness a Slap in the Face

Republicans demand probe of Biden’s ‘botched’ student aid program rollout:

Congressional Republicans are clamoring for a federal investigation of the Biden administration’s “botched” implementation of the revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) program, according to a letter exclusively obtained by The Post.

Senate and House GOP committee leaders overseeing the Education Department asked the Government Accountability Office in a Wednesday letter to investigate its failure to fully implement FAFSA for “almost 18 million students.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee ranking member Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and House Education and Workforce chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) wrote that a missed Jan. 1 deadline for rolling out the program is “delaying students and families’ access to crucial financial aid for college.”

“Although students have traditionally been able to start submitting a FAFSA each year on October 1st, Education was three months late launching the new application and it was not consistently available on Education’s website until early January (after a ‘soft launch’ on December 30th),” they told GAO comptroller general Gene Dodaro.

The “soft launch” has also created backlogs for high school counselors who help students apply for financial assistance and difficulties for university administrators tasked with granting the aid packages, according to the Republicans.

“Some colleges may be unable to meet their normal timelines for providing students with financial aid offers, which could leave students without time to compare offers and pick a school that is affordable,” Cassidy and Foxx said.

“All these challenges and delays may cause some students—particularly low-income students who are most dependent on federal aid—to give up and not pursue postsecondary education.” —>READ MORE HERE

White House cancels $5B in student debt for 74K borrowers:

In the latest wave of student loan forgiveness, the Biden administration canceled $5 billion in student debt for 74,000 borrowers on Friday.

The White House said more than half — 44,000 — of those receiving the loan forgiveness are teachers, nurses, firefighters and others who work in the public sector. About 30,000 of those public service employees had been on an income-driven repayment program for 20 years.

The move raises the number of borrowers who have seen their debts erased by President Biden to 3.7 million. It’s part of smaller relief programs the White House launched after the Supreme Court struck down its student debt relief plan.

This month, the White House said it would eliminate federal student debt for certain borrowers who took out less than $12,000 in federal loans. Last month, Mr. Biden approved $4.8 billion in student debt cancellation for more than 80,000 borrowers.

“My administration is able to deliver relief to these borrowers — and millions more — because of fixes we made to the broken student loan programs that were preventing borrowers from getting the relief they were entitled to under the law,” the president said in a statement.

Elaine Parker, president of the Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative organization that advocates for small business, blasted Mr. Biden, saying his efforts run afoul of the Supreme Court decision.—>READ MORE HERE

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Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness a slap in the face

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