How Creating the New FAFSA Unraveled

Congress tasked the incoming Biden administration with carrying out one of the most consequential updates to the federal financial aid system. The project was ambitious. The budget was lean. But delivering the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid — a simpler, shorter version of the decades-old form — could have been a major win for the administration. Instead, it has been a major headache. The financial aid form debuted in December 2023, more than a year later than promised.