West Virginia Declares State of Emergency Over FAFSA Chaos
On Tuesday, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) declared a state of emergency over persistent issues with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. The financial aid form, which is required for any college students seeking federal grants or loans—not to mention financial aid at most colleges—has been plagued with technical bugs since its rollout in December.
As part of the state of emergency, Justice has lifted the state’s requirement that students submit the FAFSA form in order to receive major state grants.Â
“I don’t believe any other state in the nation has gone this far, but I simply cannot and will not stand by as money sits on the table that could be helping our students continue their education,” Justice said in a press release. “There’s only so much outreach you can do when students can’t complete the form due to issues only the federal government can control. We have been left with no choice but to suspend the FAFSA requirement for our state financial aid programs.”
As part of the 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act, the Education Department was directed to create a streamlined version of the FAFSA form. On December 31, 2023, the department finally released the new form—more than two months later than FAFSA’s usual release date and without extending the deadline for completion. While the updated form was much shorter than previous versions, it was also inundated with technical bugs.
FAFSA’s own website details dozens of errors in the form since its release date—some that persisted for months, preventing students from completing the form at all. In March, the Education Department even announced that around 200,000
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