García, Huffman, Allred, and Barragán Applaud New FAFSA Guidance, Call for Permanent Solutions

WASHINGTON, DC—Representatives Jesús “Chuy'' García (IL-04), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Colin Allred (TX-32), Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragán (CA-44), and 88 of their colleagues wrote a letter urging the Department of Education to address issues students from mixed-status families are facing as they try to submit the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. Following this letter, the Department of Education today announced new guidelines that will help these students meet critical deadlines for non-federal financial aid while the Department addresses the technical issue preventing contributors without a Social Security number (SSN) from starting or accessing the 2024–2025 FAFSA form.

“Students eligible for financial aid have the right to access that aid, regardless of their parents’ citizenship status. But because of a technical error in the new FAFSA form, many of my constituents from immigrant and mixed-status families were left without answers and no path forward as college financial aid deadlines crept up,” said Rep. García. “My colleagues and I spent weeks urging the Department of Education to address this issue, and it's a good thing the Department has finally heeded our call by issuing these temporary guidelines. But let’s not confuse this action with an adequate answer to the full set of concerns we outlined in our letter. The Department must continue to rectify these errors in rollout so no student is blocked from the aid they need.”

“If you’re a U.S. citizen, the immigration status of your parents should not be a barrier to receiving federal financial aid for higher education. But due to an error in the new FAFSA form, students in my district and across America are hitting a wall, preventing them from getting the support they depend on to get a quality education,” said Rep. Huffman. “After weeks of working with the Department of Education (ED) to elevate this issue, we’re glad to see it has provided guidance on a temporary workaround for certain students – but we need permanent solutions for all students, and we need them now. I want to see ED finalize an actual fix and implement the rest of the solutions we laid out in our letter to make sure these inequities are completely behind us.”

“Parents’ legal status should not affect the likelihood of eligible students receiving their financial aid packages. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of U.S. citizen students were put at risk of not receiving their aid in time for college deadlines because of a glitch in the new FAFSA form. Because of this technical error, students with parents who do not have a Social Security Number, were unable to submit their FAFSA forms until the Department of Education (ED) issued these new guidelines. I appreciate ED for developing this short-term fix, but it’s necessary we receive answers from the Department to better prevent these situations from occurring again,” saidChair Barragán.

Reps. García, Huffman, Allred, Barragán and their colleagues also asked the Department to provide a timeline for resolving this issue; to work with schools and state governments to mitigate the problems; and to conduct outreach to proactively inform students, counselors, and other stakeholders about when families with undocumented parents can expect a solution and how to submit their forms once it's resolved.

With today’s announcement, students whose required contributors do not have an SSN and who face a critical deadline for state, institutional or other scholarship aid can follow a set of instructions to submit an incomplete FAFSA application. The Department of Education’s new guidance indicates it will resolve the technical error in the first half of March, at which point affected students must submit a completed application.

Members signing the letter: Pete Aguilar (CA-33), Earl Blumenauer (OR-03), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Brendan Boyle (PA-02), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Yadira Caraveo (CO-08), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), André Carson (IN-07), Greg Casar (TX-35), Kathy Castor (FL-14), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Judy Chu (CA-28), Lou Correa (CA-46), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Lloyd Doggett (TX-35), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Valerie Foushee (NC-04), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), John Garamendi (CA-08), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), Val Hoyle (OR-04), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Robin Kelly (IL-02), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Andy Kim (NJ-03), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03), Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Seth Magaziner (RI-02), Kathy Manning (NC-06), Betty McCollum (MN-04), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Grace Meng (NY-06), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Kevin Mullin (CA-15), Grace Napolitano (CA-31), Joe Neguse (CA-02), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Frank Pallone (NJ-06), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), Donald Payne Jr. (NJ-10), Scott Peters (CA-50), Brittany Pettersen (CO-07), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Katie Porter (CA-47), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Raul Ruiz (CA-25), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Linda Sánchez (CA-38), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Adam Schiff (CA-30), Adam Smith (WA-09), Darren Soto (FL-09), Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Greg Stanton (AZ-04), Haley Stevens (MI-11), Eric Swalwell (CA-14), Mark Takano (CA-35), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Norma Torres (CA-35), Ritchie Torres (NY-15), Lori Trahan (MA-03), David Trone (MD-06), Lauren Underwood (IL-14), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Gabe Vasquez (NM-02), Marc Veasey (TX-33), Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Nikema Williams (GA-05), Frederica Wilson (FL-24)

Organizations endorsing the letter: American School Superintendents Association (AASA), California Community Colleges, City Colleges of Chicago, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, College of DuPage, HANA Center, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), Illinois Head Start, Immigration Hub, ImmSchools, Instituto del Progreso Latino, Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services (LARES) at University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), Moraine Valley Community College, Morton College, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), National Education Association (NEA), National Federation of Teachers (NFT), National Immigrant Law Center (NILC), Northeastern Illinois University, The Education Trust, Western Illinois Dreamers.

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