Free Republic

In a normal year, May 1 is known as National College Decision Day, the deadline for students to commit to enrolling at a college, guided in part by their financial aid awards. But the Biden administration’s disastrous rollout of a new financial aid application has left tens of thousands of families in the dark about their students’ future and prompted several universities to push back their enrollment deadlines. As of April 19, completed FAFSA applications were down nearly 30%. At best, it means many students and parents don’t know how much it will cost to attend college in the fall....

The priority deadline for Texas students to complete the Free Federal Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) is on January 15. Texas high school students are required to submit that application to graduate... “It was a great struggle filling out the FAFSA,” Martinez said. Millions of students face the same struggle of filling out the FAFSA. Some say that the application is too complicated for some. Congressman Doggett has been working for years to make it simple.

Lawmakers in at least eight states are pushing legislation this year that would require high-school seniors to complete federal or state financial-aid applications before they can graduate, part of a broad effort to guide more high-school students toward college. Supporters say the mandates would bring postsecondary education within reach for millions more young adults by helping them claim billions of dollars in grants for which they are already eligible, and ultimately help improve the economy by creating a more educated workforce. They also hope that requiring the forms—or even compelling students who want exemptions to meet with guidance counselors—would provide...

After a U.S. airstrike killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's Quds military force, in Baghdad on Thursday, Iran vowed "crushing revenge" against all responsible. Now, with #NoWarinIran, #TrumpsWar and #WorldWarIII trending on Twitter, users are looking into the draft — particularly college students about how the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) could play into their potential future military service

A Haverford College student who used a campus computer to attempt to hack into an IRS database to obtain Donald Trump’s tax returns days before the 2016 presidential election pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanor crimes in federal court. Justin Hiemstra, 22, who finished his studies in May but will not get his degree until he completes a study-abroad program next May, told Judge Cynthia Rufe that he did not know what he would have done with the tax returns if he and classmate Andrew Harris had succeeded in obtaining them on Nov. 2, 2016. “It was a time when...

A Philadelphia man has pleaded guilty in connection with a scheme to trick a U.S. government website into serving up the president’s tax returns. Andrew Harris, a student who attended Haverford College, admitted in court last week that he used a school computer and the Free Application for Student Aid website to try to access Donald Trump’s financial records. By opening a FAFSA account in the name of a Trump family member and using Trump’s Social Security number, Harris and another student apparently thought the FAFSA page would populate with Trump’s tax data. The attempt failed when the pair found...

the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board opened a formal investigation of her after reviewing evidence of several violations. Omar has also made, and defended, anti-Semitic comments as direct and vicious as any spoken by a U.S. politician in a generation. In 2016, an anonymous writer on SomaliSpot.com published verified photos and Minnesota state records suggesting that Rep. Omar is a serial felon and fraudster. Since then, the additional evidence discovered to back these claims -- and the absence of contradictory evidence -- are almost as remarkable as Minnesota media's refusal to lift a finger investigating her for two years. Allegations against...

House Republicans are proposing to revamp federal student loan programs by putting caps on how much students and parents can borrow even as they call for simplifying the application process. The student aid provisions are part of a massive rewrite of higher education legislation introduced by Republican Reps. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, chair of the House Committee on Education, and Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, chairman of the panel’s higher education subcommittee. “Unfortunately, today’s chaotic maze of federal aid programs, requirements and red tape has driven up college costs and made pursuing and finishing a postsecondary education unworkable for far...

In order to graduate from high school in Louisiana, students will soon be required to apply for federal financial aid for college. The state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved the new graduation prerequisite earlier this month, and the new policy will go into effect beginning with the class of 2018.

In order to graduate from high school in Louisiana, students will soon be required to apply for federal financial aid for college. The state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved the new graduation prerequisite earlier this month, and the new policy will go into effect beginning with the class of 2018. The move makes the Pelican State the first in the country to require students to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as the FAFSA, in order to receive a high school diploma.

This article originally appeared on watchdog.org.Look out, your identity is likely in the hands of a fraudster. But the question remains: Has it been used to fraudulently obtain federal student loans or other government assistance?You may never know, because government funds like a Pell Grant doesn’t show up on your credit report, said Haywood Talcove, chief executive officer of LexisNexis Special Services, the world’s largest provider of public-records database applications for government and commercial organizations.Or you may find out that someone has claimed federal education funds in your name when you fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid,...

Applying for federal student aid? The application no longer asks about a student’s “mother” and “father.” Instead, the U.S. Education Department is replacing those terms with “Parent 1” and “Parent 2.” “All students should be able to apply for federal student aid within a system that incorporates their unique family dynamics,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in the April 29 announcement. “These changes will allow us to more precisely calculate federal student aid eligibility based on what a student’s whole family is able to contribute and ensure taxpayer dollars are better targeted toward those students who have the...

The White House says President Barack Obama plans to offer millions of student loan borrowers the ability to lower their payments and consolidate their loans. Obama on Wednesday will use his executive authority to accelerate a measure passed by Congress that reduces the repayment cap on student loans from 15 percent of discretionary income to 10 percent. The White House wants it to go into effect in 2012, instead of 2014. About 1.6 million borrowers could be affected. Also, the 5.8 million borrowers who have loans from both the Family Education Loan Program and a direct loan from the government...

[College financial aid] punishes the savers, rewards the spenders. It rewards parents who are so self-centered that they put their own interests ahead of their children, and punishes parents who believe their first obligation in life is to nurture and support their kids. The system sends all the wrong signals. It is bad for the Nation, contributing to our low savings rate, the need to borrow investment funds from abroad, etc. It raises interest rates, other things equal. The damage done by government through tax and spending policies is aggravated by the privately imposed "tax" on savings levied by the...

Does anybody out there know the college financial aid game? What are the do's and don't's? What life-strategies help or hurt when it comes to getting the most out of college financial aid? I currently have a sophomore in a private university, and we have been fortunate that the college has provided this child a full ride so far. I also have a senior in high school, and he is looking at private schools as well ($$$$). We also have a third-grader. I have a modest income (let's say I have never maxed my Social Security withholdings). My wife has...