WASHINGTON (AP) — A significant outage on StudentAid.gov sparked concerns over the risks associated with reducing the Department of Education’s workforce. Amid President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the agency, the federal website for student loans and financial aid experienced hours of technical difficulties on Wednesday, impacting users trying to complete the required FAFSA form for college financial aid.
When issues arose midday Wednesday, users reported FAFSA outages through Downdetector, leading to frustration for many individuals across the nation trying to access financial aid information. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators also received reports of technical glitches hindering FAFSA completion. Despite efforts to gather information on the outage, the Education Department remained silent, raising questions about how recent layoffs within the agency may be impacting their ability to address such problems.
The Department of Education executed a substantial reduction in staff on Tuesday, resulting in a loss of developers and IT support personnel assigned to the FAFSA form. Over 300 employees, including two dozen from the technology division, were cut from Federal Student Aid – the team responsible for systems supporting the FAFSA form. The lack of access to email, phones, and computers for laid-off staff members created challenges in responding to the outage promptly.
As efforts to identify the cause of the outage continued through a Teams call involving approximately 70 people, the website eventually displayed a banner indicating “Planned Maintenance” and restricted login access by Wednesday evening. Despite requests for comment, the Education Department did not address the outage, leaving users and financial aid administrators without an official explanation for the technical breakdown.
This recent FAFSA disruption adds to a history of challenges with the form, which had been overhauled the previous year to simplify the process. However, technical issues persisted, hindering students from submitting forms or experiencing errors in financial aid calculations. While concerns arose that these difficulties could deter students from pursuing higher education, freshman enrollment at U.S. colleges actually increased year over year.
It is crucial for the Education Department to address and resolve technical problems promptly to ensure students have access to necessary financial aid resources for college. As the agency continues its restructuring efforts, the impact of reduced staffing levels on critical operations like the FAFSA form remains a topic of concern for students and administrators alike.