Laura Baron-Lopez:
We speak with Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education and former U.S. deputy secretary of education, about how this will impact students and their families.
Ted, thank you so much for joining us.
Federal financial aid is essential to helping students pay for college tuition. So how will this latest incident affect students? And will it mean they won't be able to attend the top schools of their choice?
Ted Mitchell, former U.S. Under Secretary of Education: Yes, thank you. Thank you, Laura. Thank you for inviting me.
This is a disaster that is about to unfold. And as we just heard, it's hitting students who are waiting to hear about aid so they can make the right decisions for themselves and their families. This is unprecedented. As the report stated at the outset, the delay has been for a considerable period of time, currently taking three to four months.
Federal student aid forms are beginning to be distributed to colleges. That's good news. The bad news is that some of them still need to be fixed, as you are reporting. It will be several weeks from now for universities to receive all aid forms, and it will be another week or so before universities can package aid.
This is a critical period for students. And I feel very, very, very sorry for them. I also have a lot of sympathy for college financial aid officers. They want to give students a solid idea of how much money they can receive, but they are tied up behind their backs because they don't have the information they need. From the federal government.
