ACE and 25 other higher education associations expressed “grave concern” in an April 12 letter
(261 KB PDF) to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos about the recent suspension of
the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data tool that makes the student
financial aid application process quicker and more accurate for students
and borrowers.
The letter notes that the IRS and the Department of Education have announced
that the data retrieval tool (DRT) will remain unavailable to student
aid applicants and certain borrowers in repayment for the remainder of
the award year, and is not expected to be operational until Oct. 1, at
the earliest.
“This extreme delay will have a profound impact on low-income
students applying (or reapplying) for federal financial aid and
borrowers applying for income-based repayment plans,” the letter states.
“The consequences of suspending the DRT undermine the benefits of the
recent shift to using Prior-Prior Year income and tax data. We have
already seen the negative impact of the loss of this tool, as students
and families have experienced unnecessary confusion and states have been
forced to delay application deadlines.”
Inside Higher Ed noted in a story April 10
that some researchers have found evidence suggesting the tool’s removal
may be contributing to a slowdown in application rates, and that
financial aid advisors say the more burdensome application process has
delayed college decisions for many students.
Congressional leaders recently also sent a letter to DeVos, calling on the federal government to address the problems caused by the decision to disable the tool.
The letter sent by ACE notes the seriousness of IRS concerns
regarding the security of data and the possible misuse of the tool to
commit tax fraud, but stresses that “this should not preclude the timely
adoption of reasonable security measures or a revised system.”