'It Doesn't Make Any Sense': Joni Ernst Rails Against Biden's 'FAFSA Fiasco'

5 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) criticized the Biden Administration's handling of the FAFSA program.

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Transcript

00:00 >> Senator from Iowa.

00:01 >> Yes, thank you, Madam President.

00:03 And I want to thank the senator from West Virginia

00:06 as well for arranging today's floor speeches

00:10 focused on FAFSA.

00:12 So today is May 1st,

00:14 and it's National College Decision Day.

00:18 And typically this day is cause for celebration

00:22 for students and families all across the United States.

00:27 Finalizing the next step after high school

00:30 represents a huge milestone for young men and women,

00:35 and one that is earned by that late night studying,

00:40 participating in different extracurricular activities,

00:44 and meticulously filling out applications,

00:49 and oftentimes determined

00:52 by a good old college road trip.

00:57 Together families, they'll hop on the highway

01:00 to find their future college or university,

01:04 hopefully of that student's choosing.

01:08 This year, as folks embarked on this journey,

01:11 little did they know that the Biden administration

01:14 would be putting up roadblocks.

01:16 So today, instead of celebrating College Decision Day,

01:23 there are millions of young people

01:26 waiting anxiously to hear from the Department of Education

01:31 on whether they will be able to afford college.

01:36 The best way for college hopefuls

01:41 to know what support they may receive

01:44 comes from the free application for federal student aid,

01:49 which we call the FAFSA.

01:53 Due to incomplete planning measures,

01:56 and likely yielding to progressives' priorities,

02:01 Biden's Department of Education

02:03 released this year's FAFSA form three months late,

02:08 drastically condensing the timeline

02:13 for families to submit it.

02:15 To this day, they still haven't fixed their fiasco,

02:22 and the negative implications are like a five-car pileup.

02:27 Since the delayed January release of the new FAFSA form,

02:33 I have been driving river to river across Iowa,

02:37 hearing from students, from their parents,

02:40 from aid administrators and counselors

02:44 on the impact of this disastrous rollout.

02:49 I recently met with Jennifer Holliday.

02:53 Jennifer is a fellow farm kid

02:56 and the current student body president

03:00 of Iowa State University.

03:03 So go Jennifer, and go clones.

03:07 She and her younger sister

03:09 eagerly submitted their FAFSA forms as early as possible.

03:14 But as of last week,

03:19 Jennifer had still not received her estimated aid,

03:24 even though her sister received it months ago.

03:29 So folks, we're talking about two kids from the same family.

03:34 It doesn't make any sense.

03:39 During our conversation, Jennifer told me

03:42 that she is scared to see how much her aid offer

03:46 will decrease due to the department

03:50 penalizing farm families.

03:54 Even though the new FAFSA formula

03:56 was supposed to improve eligibility for aid,

04:00 it has instead caused some farm families'

04:05 expected contributions to skyrocket more than five times.

04:10 Sadly, these FAFSA fumbles are far too common

04:16 under the Biden administration.

04:19 An exceptionally bright high schooler from Des Moines

04:24 shared with me that while he hoped to have

04:27 a traditional college experience living in a dorm

04:31 at a four-year university in Iowa,

04:34 he still wasn't sure what his aid package would look like.

04:39 Since he wasn't willing to sign up for debt

04:42 without knowing exactly what he would have to pay,

04:47 that's a smart kid, he plans to live at home

04:52 and attend community college for now,

04:55 hoping the FAFSA fiasco is fixed in time

04:59 to try again next year.

05:02 But this wreck isn't just punishing high school seniors.

05:08 I recently spoke to a mom of four from Sioux City

05:13 and she told me that she went back to school

05:18 after more than a decade, again, she was a young mother,

05:21 mother of four, and she really wanted to finish her degree.

05:24 So she went to school after more than a decade

05:28 to complete her teaching degree.

05:32 Her goal is to teach high school history

05:35 and equip our next generation.

05:38 And like so many other hopefuls,

05:41 she still has not received a clear estimate of her aid

05:46 and it remains to be seen if she will be able to pay

05:52 for her fall semester classes.

05:54 As the Biden administration refuses to provide a clear path

06:00 for students or school administrators,

06:03 we continue to see the department detour its attention

06:08 to Democrat priorities.

06:11 After more than three months of requests from my office,

06:16 this administration has failed to provide Congress

06:21 with a transparent response on how they are adequately

06:25 making corrections to the FAFSA,

06:29 even as we are rapidly approaching next year's rollout.

06:34 Meanwhile, just two weeks ago,

06:40 right before college decision day,

06:44 the Biden administration announced an additional

06:47 $7.4 billion in loan cancellation

06:56 and $6 billion more today,

07:00 bringing the grand total to $160 billion.

07:06 Biden's Ed Department has also prioritized

07:11 radical gender ideology over the most fundamental

07:15 statutory protections of women in schools.

07:20 It's clear folks, the left lane to higher learning

07:24 has been paved with the president's political pet projects

07:29 and Iowans are in for a bumpy ride.

07:33 When Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act,

07:40 it was done so with the understanding

07:43 that the Department of Education would prioritize

07:48 a thorough and well-tested model

07:53 for the student aid form.

07:56 Well, that clearly has not happened.

08:00 While the administration has had FAFSA under construction

08:04 for three years, yes, three years to get this rollout right,

08:09 traffic is still at a screeching halt.

08:14 But rest assured folks, I'm fighting back.

08:17 First, to ensure not a cent allocated

08:20 for the FAFSA Simplification was spent

08:24 on Biden's student loan bailout.

08:27 Second, to allow students like whose stories I have shared,

08:32 those farm kids from rural Iowa,

08:35 our non-traditional students,

08:38 mothers who are looking for a second opportunity,

08:41 and everyone who was forced to miss out

08:45 on pursuing the college of their choice this year

08:49 because of the administration's incompetence

08:53 to get access to potentially life-changing aid

08:58 they deserve.

09:00 Madam President, there's significant road work ahead,

09:05 but I'm not pumping the brakes

09:07 until the Biden administration removes these roadblocks

09:11 and fixes its FAFSA fiasco.

09:17 Thank you, Madam President, and I yield back.

09:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]

'It Doesn't Make Any Sense': Joni Ernst Rails Against Biden's 'FAFSA Fiasco'

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