WASHINGTON (AP) — A prolonged outage on Wednesday at StudentAid.gov, the federal website for student loans and financial aid, highlighted the dangers of swiftly reducing the Department of Education, as President Donald Trump moves to dismantle the agency. Many users encountered difficulties with the FAFSA form, necessary for financial aid at colleges nationwide, as reported on Downdetector and by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. The Education Department had not provided any information on the outage, leading to speculation that recent layoffs may have impacted the maintenance and troubleshooting efforts. Following the layoffs, which included personnel working on the FAFSA form, the Education Department’s staff has been significantly reduced since Trump’s inauguration. Despite being technically employed until March 21, the laid-off staff had limited access to resources, complicating efforts to address the outage. The Education Department did not respond to inquiries about the situation. The FAFSA has faced challenges under the previous administration, with technical issues causing delays in form submissions and financial aid calculations. Despite concerns that these problems could discourage students from pursuing college, overall freshman enrollment at U.S. colleges rose compared to the previous year.
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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that freshman enrollment at U.S. colleges had declined in fall 2024. This data was revised in January by the National Student Clearinghouse due to a methodology error. Freshman enrollment actually increased from the previous year.
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