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The Education Department will partner with community-based organizations, high schools, colleges and states to recruit students who’ll test the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which is set to launch later this year.
Tuesday’s announcement came after the department said earlier this month that it would delay releasing the application until Dec. 1 to allow time for testing. Officials expect to open the application up to hundreds of student testers in early October, then slowly make it available to more students over the following two months.
For the first round of testing that kicks off Oct. 1, the department plans to partner with two to six community-based organizations that “can reach a broad and diverse set of student and contributor populations,” according to its news release. Interested organizations have until Sept. 5 to apply. The organizations that participate will be expected to recruit least 100 students to attend an in-person event and fill out the application.
Participating in the testing phase “will require a significant amount of work” from the partnering organizations, the department said in the announcement.
“We’re using the beta testing period to uncover and fix issues with the FAFSA form before the form is available to millions of students and their families,” FAFSA executive adviser Jeremy Singer said in the news release. “During this first beta test, we’re grateful that community-based organizations are willing to work with us to support students and contributors when they encounter issues. In the end, our collective efforts will benefit all students and their families in their pursuit of higher education.”
For subsequent rounds of testing, the department plans to work with high schools that can host FAFSA completion nights and find more colleges that can recruit current students to fill out the form.
“Working with high schools and additional institutions of higher education will allow the department to test the FAFSA form with tens of thousands of students from a wider variety of student populations and help the department identify and fix major issues before the application is available to all students and contributors,” officials said.
