Central South Dakota News

U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) has led a resolution criticizing the Biden-Harris Administration’s handling of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) rollout for the 2024-2025 school year. The resolution condemns the issues associated with the rollout, urges the Department of Education (ED) to address and rectify these problems, and calls for leaders to testify before congressional committees.

Historically, FAFSA applications have opened on October 1 of the year preceding the academic year. However, for 2024-2025, applications were delayed by three months until December. Consequently, ED did not begin sending FAFSA data to universities until March. This delay resulted in many students receiving their financial aid awards after May 1, 2024—the deadline by which many institutions require students to commit to attending.

For the academic year 2025-2026, ED has already announced another delay in opening applications until December.

“Students and parents must be able to make an informed decision about where they’re attending college before the decision deadline,” said Rounds. “A big piece of this decision is considering how much college will cost them and knowing how much aid they’ll get to help. It’s unacceptable that the Department of Education’s botched FAFSA rollout has hurt America’s students and institutions of higher education. My colleagues and I strongly condemn this massive failure and call on the Department of Education to take necessary steps to fix the FAFSA for this next school year.”

Rounds was joined on this resolution by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

In January 2024, Rounds joined his colleagues in requesting a Government Accountability Office investigation into the Biden-Harris Administration’s failed FAFSA rollout. In August 2024, he introduced legislation proposing a new affordable student loan program as an alternative to current federal aid.

Click HERE for the full resolution.

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