Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail
Floor Speech
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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, today is May 1, which traditionally serves as college decision day--the deadline for prospective college students to confirm their enrollment and secure their spot for the upcoming semester.
Each of us knows that college decisions are not made lightly. Students consider various majors. They look at long-term job prospects and earning potential for their careers. At least we hope they are looking at that before they decide to pursue their studies.
As they look at schools, they also evaluate admission requirements, student resources, and the campus culture. But far and away, the most important factor for the majority of students is, how much will it cost? How much will it cost to receive a degree? As any student or parent who has been through this process will attest, it is not a cut- and-dry answer. I have been through it with both of my daughters and still have flashbacks occasionally from the experience.
Between scholarships and grants, the advertised sticker price versus the out-of-pocket cost can vary significantly. To cover the remaining balance, students have the option to take out loans, participate in work-study programs, or take on a part-time job. Those decisions require even more consideration and planning.
For most students to understand or even begin to evaluate the true cost of college, they rely on something called the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, as you have heard it called. Now, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, determines how much financial aid students can receive through loans, grants, scholarships, and work-study programs. For millions of students, this information unlocked by the FAFSA is a deciding factor, so it is a critical factor in determining students' ability to be able to go to school. It is not just deciding which school is right for them; it is understanding whether college education is even feasible from a financial point of view.
But despite today being college decision day, many Texas students and other students all across the country are still waiting for their financial aid packages. They should have had this information weeks ago, even months ago, giving them the time to look at the range of their options and make an informed decision by May 1. Instead, enough students are still in limbo that many colleges and universities have been forced to postpone their admission decisions. But the fault doesn't lie with the students or the colleges but with, rather, the administration, which completely bungled the FAFSA process this year.
The Biden administration rolled out a new FAFSA application that promised to simplify the notoriously complicated form. They claimed that the new-and-improved FAFSA would make it as easy as possible for families to get the help they need in order to plan for their education. As countless families in Texas and across the country can attest, that hasn't happened--not in the slightest.
The FAFSA is typically available on October 1. This cycle, it wasn't available until the end of December--nearly 3 months behind schedule. Once it went live, the problems had just begun. Applicants reported website crashes, system errors, and lengthy processing times. Many of Texas's mixed-status families have had trouble completing the FAFSA at all due to a technical glitch. Across the board, applicants have struggled to get anyone on the phone to help troubleshoot the issues they were facing--even more so if they needed somebody who spoke Spanish. Instead of a simplified and streamlined process, families have been introduced to a convoluted maze of confusing questions, unclear instructions, and lengthy delays. The FAFSA problems have been so severe that many students have decided not to even complete the FAFSA at all this year. This is having dramatic and negative consequences.
The Biden Education Department says that FAFSA submissions by Texas students alone are down by more than 40 percent--40 percent--over last year. This is a scandal. This is a precipitous drop, and it is sure to have a negative impact on those students, the colleges and universities, and eventually on employers.
Starting with students, it is impossible to make an informed financial decision about college without a financial aid package. As we know, costs can vary significantly from one school to another, so without a financial aid offer, it is impossible to understand how to put the puzzle together to figure out whether it is even feasible for you to attend a particular university. A student who thinks they are making the more economical choice may need to take out a larger than expected loan because they don't have a clear understanding of their financial obligations.
And for students who are weighing whether or not to attend college at all or whether to go to a 4-year college or perhaps a community college or a technical school, this could be the deciding factor that forces them to forego higher education and simply enter the workforce--or to accept something short of what they have aspired to in terms of their educational opportunities.
This is especially true for students from low-income families who rely more on financial aid to make their dream of higher education come true. Without timely access to this critical information, students risk being locked out of a lifetime of opportunities for success.
High school students, though, aren't the only ones impacted by the Biden administration's FAFSA fiasco. Current college students who are receiving aid have to complete this same document every year. For example, a student by the name of Alexis is a junior at the University of Texas at Austin, and she says she is very concerned about what she described as a ``waiting game.''
As I noted, the Biden administration made the new FAFSA application available at the end of December, 3 months late. Alexis, though, completed the form and submitted it in January. But she still hasn't received an update since that time--May 1. She is worried--and I can understand why--that her FAFSA won't be processed before next semester, forcing her to get a third job or to take out additional loans.
Now, this is a scandal, as I said, and it should be a huge embarrassment to the Biden administration, which said this new and improved FAFSA process was going to streamline it and make it easier to comply with. But what they didn't figure out is the bureaucratic bungling of administering this new process.
The ripple effects of the FAFSA fiasco are felt not only by individual students but by colleges and universities across the Nation. Last month, I met with a number of leaders from Texas colleges and universities, and I am sure they are not unique in this regard, but they are absolutely outraged by the Biden administration's mishandling of the FAFSA. Without complete FAFSA data, they aren't able to send financial aid packages to prospective students. Without that information, students are unlikely to confirm enrollment. And without enrollment data, universities aren't able to set even a budget for their operations for the upcoming year.
Institutions rely on timely access to students' financial aid information to manage their admissions process and allocate resources. The delays caused by the botched rollout of the new FAFSA have disrupted these operations, created unnecessary headaches and anxiety and logistical challenges that make it impossible to plan for the future. Eventually, reduced enrollment will have a negative impact on the workforce.
Most of the meetings I have been having this week are with chambers of commerce from all across the State of Texas, and one of the first things they mention to me is workforce development. Fortunately, in our State, we are attracting a lot of new, well-paying jobs, particularly in things like advanced semiconductors and the like, and we are depending on these colleges and universities to train the workforce to be able to fill these well-paying jobs.
It is no question that our country is already dealing with a skills gap. Again, I have spoken with countless employers and job creators that have told me they are still struggling to find qualified candidates to fill available jobs. This includes high-tech manufacturing jobs like those in the semiconductor area that I mentioned but also nurses, electricians, mental health providers, school counselors, cyber security experts--and the list goes on and on. We need people trained in these various disciplines and skills in order to fill these jobs and to keep our economy growing.
The primary goal of the new FAFSA was to simplify the application process, making it easier for students and their families to navigate. Instead, the Biden administration's lack of preparation has created a bureaucratic nightmare for families, for students, and for schools. It undoubtedly will lead to countless numbers of students who will abandon their dreams of furthering their education because they simply can't plan for the future. They don't know which schools they are going to be able to apply to because they simply don't know how they fit their own financial picture together.
Obviously, this is going to create a lot of anxiety and headaches and uncertainty for colleges and universities, as I mentioned. And in a few years, I am afraid we will still be dealing with the ripple effect, the trickle-down consequences of reduced enrollment and workforce training.
There is simply no excuse for this sort of bureaucratic bungling. The Education Department has had plenty of time and more than ample resources to roll out a simplified FAFSA by October 2 of last year. But, unfortunately, it appears the Biden administration has been so busy looking for ways to forgive or erase existing student debt that they failed to help future and current college students make informed decisions about their future.
Again, this should be a national scandal. My friend, Ranking Member Senator Cassidy, has pushed the Government Accountability Office to examine the Biden administration's Education Department about their mishandling of the situation, and I am glad the Government Accountability Office has formally launched that investigation.
Texas students and students across the country and the American people at large deserve a full explanation about how we ended up with this mess, and we will keep fighting for answers and accountability until we get those answers.
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