Republicans question FSA chief in private meeting after news he'll step down in June

Republican senators questioned a top Biden administration official about the bungled rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, during a private meeting on Capitol Hill on Thursday. 

According to the Education Department and the lawmakers, the meeting happened nearly a week after the federal agency said Richard Cordray, the chief operating officer at the Federal Student Aid office, plans to step down later this summer. 

The lawmakers huddled for about a half-hour on Thursday afternoon with Cordray and one of his deputies, Melanie Storey, in Ernst's office, the senator told USA TODAY. She said Chuck Grassley, the other Republican senator from Iowa, was also there, along with Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Pete Ricketts, R-Neb. 

In an interview after the briefing, Ernst said she was disheartened when Cordray acknowledged to the group that the implications of the rollout could be felt by some students for years. Last week, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Cordray would be leaving the Education Department in late June after the conclusion of his three-year term.

FAFSA latest:Top Education Department official steps down amid crisis over college financial aid

“I always hate to see someone leave on a sour note,” Ernst said. “I feel for him. But unfortunately, as I pointed out to him, the department has had three years to get this right and they were unable to complete the task.” 

The Education Department said Cordray met with lawmakers primarily to discuss changes to financial aid for families with farm assets and small businesses, and the agency hopes to find ways to address their concerns.

For many, the FAFSA is now easier than ever to complete. However, the implementation of those improvements has been plagued by errors, prompting widespread delays in the college enrollment process. In recent weeks, the Education Department has course corrected, reprocessing thousands of corrupted forms and making them easier to complete for students from mixed-status families disproportionately impacted by the glitches.

How the FAFSA 'fixes' created chaosHow botched FAFSA rollout put students in a bind.

In a statement to USA TODAY earlier this week, James Kvaal, the education undersecretary, said any students waiting to fill out the application should waste no more time. 

“More than eight million students have submitted their 2024 FAFSA forms – we are processing them in one to three days, and many schools are making financial aid offers,” he said. “We encourage all those applying to and returning to college to submit their FAFSA forms and get help paying for college.”

Ernst also said she is actively looking to find a fast-progressing piece of legislation to which she can attach a bill she introduced last year with Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat. The goal of that measure is to reverse recent college financial aid changes that she said could hurt farm families and small business owners. 

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She said she has considered finding a way to work the proposal, the Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act, into a must-pass agricultural appropriations bill commonly known as the farm bill. However, negotiations with that bigger piece of legislation have been rocky and slow-moving.

Zachary Schermele covers education and breaking news for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele.