Washington Update

FAFSA Updates 

U.S. Department of Education Announces Institutions Can Make FAFSA Corrections by End of June 

• On May 10, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that institutions will be able to make FAFSA corrections by the end of June, significantly later than previous years. In the interim, ED is providing flexibility for institutions to estimate students’ eligibility and issue award letters. Additionally, ED is delaying reporting requirements on institutions related to disbursements. 
• ED also announced it will process paper FAFSA applications by the end of June. Paper applications make up less than 0.5 percent of applications this year, and many of these students have submitted online FAFSA applications that supersede their paper application. 

Summary of Reprocessing Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs)  

• On May 17, ED announced it had sent 9.7 million student FAFSA applications to institutions. Due to errors ED and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made, there was a backlog of student data in need of reprocessing. ED has cleared the majority of the backlog and is now sending data to institutions within one to three days after a student submits their FAFSA.  
• ED continues to reprocess Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) for less than 0.5 percent of FAFSAs. For errors that will not change a student’s financial aid eligibility, ED will not reprocess the ISIR. ED continues to update its list and status of known FAFSA technical issues here. 

U.S. Department of Education Provides Guidance for Contributors without a Social Security Number 

• ED provided new step-by-step guidance for eligible FAFSA applicants and their contributors without a Social Security Number to navigate the online FAFSA form. 

APLU understands the tremendous challenges the difficult FAFSA rollout has created for students, their families, and institutions. The association is in regular contact with ED and continues to push for an expedient resolution to challenges while underscoring concerns from member institutions. APLU members can follow the latest updates and resources on FAFSA at the Federal Student Aid website here.     

U.S. Department of Education Announces Higher Interest Rates for Federal Student Loans for 2024-25

Each year, the Higher Education Act requires ED to update federal student loan interest rates. Last week, ED announced that interest rates on new federal loans disbursed between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025, will rise as follows: 
• Undergraduate Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans: 6.53% interest rate, up from     5.50% 
• Graduate and Professional Direct Unsubsidized Loans: 8.08%, up from 7.05% 
• Graduate and Parent PLUS Loans: 9.08%, up from 8.05%. 

House Kicks Off FY25 Appropriations Process 

Earlier this month, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) released interim subcommittee allocations for FY25 appropriations. The Committee will mark up bills at the FY25 level found in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, $1.605 trillion, with defense receiving $895 billion and non-defense discretionary receiving $710 billion. The Committee notes an increase of $9 billion to defense spending, a 3 percent increase over FY24, and roughly a $36 billion cut to non-defense programs, 6 percent below FY24 levels. Some subcommittees, including Labor-HHS-Education, are cut by as much as 10 percent. Interim non-defense discretionary spending levels for bills containing APLU priority accounts can be found in the chart below.  

	Interim Non-defense Discretionary Allocation	Subcommittee Markup Date	Full Committee Markup Date
Agriculture	$25.873 billion	Tuesday, June 11	Wednesday, July 10
Commerce-Justice-Science	$73.954 billion	Wednesday, June 12	Tuesday, July 9
Defense	$178 million	Wednesday, June 5	Thursday, June 13
Energy and Water Development	$24.997 billion	Friday, June 28	Tuesday, June 9
Interior and Environment	$36.939 billion	Friday, June 28	Tuesday, June 9
Labor-HHS-Education	$184.564 billion	Thursday, June 27	Wednesday, July 10
State and Foreign Operations	$51.713 billion	Tuesday, June 4	Wednesday, June 12

APLU Applauds Mandatory Funding for Agricultural Research Facilities in Farm Bill Packages 

The House Agriculture Committee is expected to mark up its version of the 2024 Farm Bill, The Food, Farm, and National Security Act” on May 23. Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson released an overview of provisions included in the bill alongside a discussion draft text of the bill. As a provision of note, the House bill allocates $2.5 billion for the Research Facilities Act – a key priority for APLU and its members.   

In advance of the markup, APLU President Mark Becker sent a letter to Committee leadership praising the substantial investment in agriculture research infrastructure. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry has not yet set a date for consideration of its version of the Farm Bill, the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act. 

APLU Urges Congress to Increase FY25 Labor, Health, and Education Topline Allocations  

APLU joined a coalition letter urging House and Senate Appropriations Committee leadership to increase the topline allocation for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS-ED) spending bill in 2025. The letter details how the chronic underfunding of necessary services across education, public health, health research, workforce development, and social services have impacted the nation. Of particular importance to APLU, the LHHS-ED bill funds the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Education.