{"id":466471,"date":"2025-12-23T11:17:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/466471\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T11:17:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:17:16","slug":"exclusive-ny-education-officials-wont-say-if-state-is-complying-with-fafsa-law-meant-to-grant-access-to-1b-in-fed-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/466471\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | NY education officials won’t say if state is complying with ‘FAFSA’ law meant to grant access to $1B in fed aid"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALBANY \u2013\u00a0The state Education Department won\u2019t fork over data to prove it\u2019s complying with the \u201cuniversal FAFSA\u201d law meant to ensure New York students are accessing more than $1 billion in available federal aid.<\/p>\n

Schools across the Empire State were supposed to report how many of their students had completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid by July 1, under a bill passed as part of the state budget last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy failing to ensure true universal FAFSA access, we risk leaving students behind and falling short of our goal to make New York a state of opportunity for all,\u201d state Sen. Andrew Gounardes wrote in a recent letter to Education Commissioner Betty Rosa.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Andrew Gounardes is putting pressure on the state education department address what appear to be delays in getting schools to turn over data of how many students completed federal aid applications. Gabriella Bass For NY Post<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn Democrat asked Rosa for an update on compliance with the law, citing data from the DC-based nonprofit National College Attainment Network showing just 68% of New York\u2019s graduating high school seniors filled out the FAFSA app in 2025.<\/p>\n

That would mark only a 3% increase in the completion rate from last year, despite the state mandate going into effect, he wrote.<\/p>\n

New York students could unlock an additional $200 million<\/a> in federal Pell Grants alone if they had completed the form, according to NCAN.<\/p>\n

Some $600 million in Pell Grants, which are determined by the FAFSA form and generally do not have to be repaid, flowed to students across the state in the 2024-25 school year. As did another $900 million in state and federal student aid, officials said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gounardes said that the SED is letting students leave potentially millions more dollars on the table, made available to them by Washington and Albany to help them access college and training and career programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are seeing the consequences of not forcefully pushing through something we know can be transformative for every single student who knows that college is the best path forward for their future,\u201d he told The Post in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should view it as an urgent mandate.\u201d <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the SED said the agency was \u201ccollaborating\u201d with schools to come up with the data, and that it would be released at a later date.<\/p>\n

NY Gov. Kathy Hochul championed the FAFSA law as part of last year\u2019s state budget. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Gounardes asked state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa (pictured) for an update on compliance with the law. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cNYSED is committed to ensuring that all students have access to clear, accurate information about higher education funding options,\u201d spokesperson JP O\u2019Hare wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn partnership with the Higher Education Services Corporation, we have been working closely with schools and districts to support this effort,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe are currently collaborating with schools to verify that FAFSA data is complete and accurate. The Department will release the data publicly once this process is complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gov. Kathy Hochul championed the FAFSA law as part of last year\u2019s budget, and a spokesperson said it was a \u201ckey part\u201d of her agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Governor\u2019s FAFSA legislation is a key part of her larger affordability agenda and we remain committed to ensuring New Yorkers can access the resources needed to pursue their educational and career goals,\u201d Hochul spokesperson Kristin Devoe wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will work with SED as they continue to ensure compliance with this essential law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Gounardes noted the process has already taken several months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why we\u2019re so slow and so low. It\u2019s deeply troubling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALBANY \u2013\u00a0The state Education Department won\u2019t fork over data to prove it\u2019s complying with the \u201cuniversal FAFSA\u201d law…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":466472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[20184,5229,2871,92759,6335,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,47333,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-466471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-albany","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-college","11":"tag-college-tuition","12":"tag-exclusive","13":"tag-metro","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-state-education-department","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-us-news","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115768606502805060","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}