Roger Marshall: “today should be a day of celebration. National college decision day marks a pivotal moment in the lives of millions of…”

“today should be a day of celebration. National college decision day marks a pivotal moment in the lives of millions of students across the country, a day that many of us still remember ourselves. It is meant to be a day of excitement and anticipation of young men's and women's bright futures ahead. But, instead, I rise today frustrated and disappointed. As we stand here today, 17 million hopeful students are victims of the Biden administration's bureaucratic nightmare. Students' futures are in limbo, and their decisions for higher education are stalled as they continue their monthslong wait for answers on the Federal financial assistance that will be available to them. Millions of families nationwide rely on the FAFSA process to unlock the doors to higher education. Still, the Department of Education has left 82 percent of them unable to even submit their FAFSA applications for consideration--82 percent of them can't complete the form. In Kansas, over 11,000 students have been affected by this botched FAFSA rollout, and this number represents the nearly 30-percent decline in completed FAFSA applications. I wholeheartedly believe this drop stems from the application process being so dysfunctional and filled with glitches, that many Kansas students and families have simply given up. This is certainly unacceptable.…”