The past week has been marked with more FAFSA troubles, this time affecting the interface between IRS files and FAFSA applications.

The problems affect approximately 20 percent of all previously filed FAFSAs. While the agencies made a fix last weekend for the most significant IRS issue, applications filed previously could have incorrect calculations.

To enable corrections, the Department is taking a new approach and is sending institutions a file that provides a comprehensive list of all student records that are unaffected by the errors, as well as a second file of affected records, so schools can move forward with packaging. For students whose record has a mistake, the Department plans on reprocessing the application. In cases in which a students’ initial ISIR resulted in too much federal aid being awarded, it will be up to the institution to decide whether to use the previous ISIRs or the corrected ISIRs.

The Department also has launched a new page for regular messages from FSA leadership called FAFSA Fast News.

House Hearing

The Subcommittee on Higher Education & Workforce Development is planning a hearing on April 10 to examine how the Department’s roll out of the new FAFSA has impacted students, families and campuses. No witnesses for the hearing have been announced. Criticism of the Department’s performance from Capitol Hill has been bipartisan.