A bipartisan group of 20 senators has asked the Education Department to give colleges more time to report program-level information that’s currently due at the end of the month.
The reporting requirements, which include data on the total cost of attendance and the amount of private education loans disbursed to students, are part of the department’s new gainful-employment rule aimed at providing prospective students with more information about whether college programs pay off.
The information was initially due July 31, but the department pushed back that deadline after colleges asked for more time, citing delays and issues with the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The botched launch of the application, colleges said, made it more difficult to comply with the gainful reporting requirements.
While the two-month reprieve was welcomed, colleges have since pushed for a longer extension and urged Congress to get involved. Led by Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, and Senator Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, the group of lawmakers said in a letter sent Tuesday that the department should push the deadline back to July 2025 because of the FAFSA woes. Without an extension, they wrote, “It is going to be very difficult, if not impossible, for schools to submit high-quality data by the Oct. 1 deadline given the tight timeline and additional issues financial aid offices are facing.”
The senators added that colleges should be focused on processing financial aid applications and helping students, rather than carrying out a new reporting framework.
“The department should not rush to meet the Oct. 1 deadline at the expense of financial aid administrators who are doing what they can to guide students through a difficult FAFSA cycle,” the senators wrote. “Now more than ever, aid administrators need to remain focused on helping students apply and receive the aid they need to access their postsecondary education.”
