Education Dept. debuts simpler online financial aid form, but users face a restricted rollout – By Natalie Alms (Nextgov) / Jan 4, 2024
The Education Department unveiled its long-awaited update to the application for federal student aid, commonly known as the FAFSA, late last week.
The soft launch is meant to allow the department to fix “minor issues” discovered in the application, monitor the site and update the form. For students and families, that means the form won’t always be available online as the department pauses access for maintenance and updates. Education also says some users may be routed to a waiting room feature meant to control website volume.
An Education Department spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW that as of 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 4, 2024, there have been over 450,000 submissions.
“The department plans to continue the soft launch of the 2024-25 FAFSA form until we resolve issues uncovered through real-world user experience during the application soft opening,” a department spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW, and noted that rolling out new items gradually is “standard” for online tools and products and allows the department to make updates as issues are found.
