The U.S. Education Department (ED) on Thursday clarified how institutions should award summer financial aid if schools offer “header” terms prior to their fall-spring academic year.
Without obtaining complete and accurate Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs), colleges can’t originate direct loans for the summer period. While most known issues impacting ISIR transmission have been addressed, the delay in institution-initiated corrections, particularly in the batch-processing functionality, makes this process more fraught.
ED’s clarification outlines options for colleges based on a student’s enrollment plans.
The announcement came one day after Republican lawmakers sent a letter to ED’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) requesting formal updates on its investigation into the botched rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA. The letter, led by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina), chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, is part of a months-long accountability effort around the financial aid form.
Earlier this year, the lawmakers requested a Government Accountability Office (GAO) inquiry into how the FAFSA rollout is affecting student enrollment. Both lawmakers also introduced the FAFSA Deadline Act, which would move the statutory deadline for releasing the FAFSA to October 1. The House advanced its bill out of committee last week.
