WASHINGTON – When the U.S. Department of Education abruptly dismissed half its workforce earlier this year, college officials worried the layoffs and buyouts would create a bottleneck that would hamper their ability to help students.
A few months later, that scenario is no longer hypothetical. A survey published May 21 of roughly 900 colleges offers some of the first official indications that the federal financial aid system has started to buckle.
The results revealed that many of the millions of students who rely on federal assistance to pay for college each year are having issues getting the support they need.
In their correspondence with the Education Department, hundreds of schools reported widespread communication breakdowns, processing delays and an erosion of federal support services. The online survey was conducted in early May by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
Six in 10 colleges described noticeable changes or slowdowns in responsiveness from the Federal Student Aid office, the arm of the Education Department responsible for overseeing financial aid, including the nearly $2 trillion federal student loan portfolio. More than 350 colleges said delays in the federal government’s communications have left students confused or misinformed.
Over 40% of schools said students have had issues with federal loan servicing. Many staffers at college financial aid offices, meanwhile, have been working longer hours and taking on new responsibilities to make up for the lack of federal support. Half of the surveyed colleges said their regional Federal Student Aid office had closed.
Many schools also reported outages of key systems since March. College officials said the Education Department has failed to update important records. The agency has also made it harder or impossible for schools to access needed platforms and data.
In the survey results, college officials detailed long wait times on the phone and delayed responses to emails from the Federal Student Aid office. Some schools said they hadn’t been able to get in touch with the agency at all since mid-March, “raising concerns about the availability of federal contacts.”
Melanie Storey, the president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and a top official in the Education Department during Trump’s first term and the Biden administration, said the survey results make clear that the Education Department layoffs are already hurting students and schools.
“It was unrealistic and foolhardy to think slashing half of the department’s staff with no plan to redistribute this important work would not result in disruption and confusion for students,” she said in a statement. “The Department must act quickly to remedy the situation before the damage to schools and students is beyond repair.”
The Education Department pushed back on the survey’s conclusions. In a statement, department spokeswoman Ellen Keast said while students faced “extreme delays” in completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, during the Biden administration, the Trump administration is delivering “on time results.”
“In President Trump’s first 100 days, the Department has responsibly managed and streamlined key federal student aid features, including fixing identity verification and simplifying parent invitations, while ensuring the 2026-27 FAFSA form is on track,” she said.
Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
