Sen. Schmitt: Illegals ‘Prioritized’ for Govt College Loans

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., has requested a response from Education Secretary Miguel Cardona explaining why the federal college loan applications for prospective American students are mired in a “bureaucratic disaster” while the applications of illegal migrants are “prioritized.”

In his letter to Cardona, sent Wednesday, Schmitt pointed out that despite having ample time and resources, the Department of Education has not successfully implemented the new, simplified Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The simplified FAFSA comes from the FAFSA Simplification Act, which passed in 2020 with the intention of streamlining the application process by reducing the number of questions from 108 to 38. Yet, according to the senator, prospective students found themselves unable to access the form until December 2023, resulting in significant delays.

Noting the lack of availability, Schmitt added that “colleges and universities did not begin to receive student data from completed applications until the end of March 2024, delaying the process further.”

“Now, students are not expected to receive financial aid letters until April or even May. This is well past many universities’ decision timelines and most final decisions are required before mid-May.”

“The impact of this bureaucratic disaster has been keenly felt in Missouri,” the senator continued.

Citing a report from Kansas City’s NPR outlet KCUR, Schmitt conveyed that the rollout of the simplified FAFSA, while marketed as a streamlined approach for federal loans, “has been marked by glitches, delays, and updates complicating the process for families.”

But what’s more concerning than the Department of Education’s mere administrative failures, or the “unnecessary and legally dubious loan bailout initiatives,” is that “the Department has prioritized the applications of families with illegal aliens, devising ‘workarounds’ and loopholes to allow these applications to be submitted.”

This potential obfuscation of the federal college loan application, according to Schmitt, relegates working American families dependent on FAFSA determinations to the end of the line.