(The Center Square) – Forms for prospective higher education students should be ready by Oct. 1 each year and come user-friendly to families, a North Carolina congresswoman said on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday.
“In recent years, bipartisan efforts were made to simplify this complex, daunting process,” said U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairwoman of the Committee on Education and The Workforce in the House. “The FAFSA Simplification Act, passed in 2020, was intended to make applying for financial aid more accessible and less overwhelming. And that’s what this country needs: an effective, user-friendly system that lowers barriers to education and increases access for students of all backgrounds.”
Foxx, from her committee post, has led a charge to make improvements. Rep. Erin Houchins, R-Ind., posted pictures to social media of her first standalone bill introduced in Congress, replete with 381-1 vote.
She spoke in support of the FAFSA Deadline Act, also known as House Resolution 8932. If passed, it would ensure the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is available every year on Oct. 1 for students and families.
FAFSA includes critical financial information that college applicants supply to the institutions. In return come decisions on financial aid.
FASFA, which was created to make post-secondary education more accessible and affordable for families and students nationwide, has been faced with multiple delays throughout the previous years and has left many students unable to continue higher education.
Foxx said the Biden administration failed to timely provide the vital tool to students and families. Frustration, delays and costly errors have been experienced nationwide, she said.
The U.S. Department of Education announced it has entered the final beta testing period for the 2025-26 school year, stating that since Oct. 1 more than 14,000 students had successfully submitted their 2025–26 FAFSA forms.
Foxx said the department last year delayed the FAFSA release until late December, which is three months after its recommended release date.
The department said it has processed and sent over 81,000 records to more than 1,850 schools and 43 states.
The annual FAFSA form is typically available by Oct. 1, and the FASFA deadline generally is June 30 or by the end of the academic year.
This gives students and schools time to complete the application and process financial aid offers before acceptance deadlines.
More than 21 million students had used the free application for FASFA last year, according to the Office of Federal Student Aid, while awarding over $120 billion a year across various grants and programs.
One of President-elect Donald Trump’s talking points this year was the need to “close” the U.S. Department of Education.
“We want federal education dollars to follow the student” instead of propping up what he called “bloated and radical bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.”
“In short,” Foxx said, “today’s conversation is about restoring the promise of FAFSA, fulfilling our obligation to students, and making sure the Department’s failure is not the new normal. It’s our job to ensure that the Department of Education rolls out the FAFSA each year with clear timelines and accurate data so American families can rely on this process.”
