Education Department Taps College Board President to Oversee FAFSA Launch

• Many lawmakers have described the Department of Education's 2024-25 FAFSA rollout as "botched."
• The Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) appears to be attempting to avoid another less-than-ideal FAFSA launch.
• Jeremy Singer will temporarily join FSA to help oversee the launch of next year's application.
• The financial aid community expressed mixed responses to the department's hire.

College Board President Jeremy Singer will temporarily join the Department of Education (ED) to lead the 2025-26 launch of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

ED announced Friday that Singer will take a temporary leave from College Board, best known for administering the SAT and Advanced Placement (AP) tests, to join Federal Student Aid (FSA). Singer will assume the role of FAFSA executive advisor until the end of 2024, according to College Board.

This announcement comes after ED's "botched" rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA, which many experts predict will lead to a decline in fall 2024 enrollment.

"[Singer] brings deep experience having successfully led the development and introduction of major technology innovations in education, which will be integral to improving the FAFSA experience and ensuring millions of students and families can easily access the federal financial aid they are entitled to," ED Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

ED billed Singer as a "technology solutions expert" in its announcement, which may still prove handy. MorraLee Keller, senior director of strategic programming at the National College Attainment Network (NCAN), told BestColleges that tech issues continue to prevent many families from completing the 2024-25 FAFSA form.

"There are still these students that are running into the technical glitches," she said.

ED's announcement also follows uncertainty about the timeline of the 2025-26 FAFSA. The launch of this year's FAFSA form was delayed nearly three months, leading to a dropoff in FAFSA completions.

NCAN and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) penned a letter on June 10 calling on the department to commit to the traditional FAFSA launch date of Oct. 1. The letter adds that ED typically distributes a paper FAFSA for public comment in February, but has yet to do so for the 2025-26 form.

Keller told BestColleges she believes next year’s FAFSA may not go through public comment, which could expedite the process.

“Another delayed FAFSA release, combined with vague communication about when the form will open, would have disastrous impacts on students, counselors, and financial aid administrators, deepening the gaps in access and enrollment that resulted from the issue-ridden FAFSA rollout this year,” the letter stated.

Some in the financial aid community celebrated ED’s hire of Singer.

Derek Kindle, vice provost for enrollment management at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told Inside Higher Ed that Singer’s “solutions-oriented approach” should be welcomed at FSA.

“I think it’s a smart and savvy move to choose [Singer] because of his skill set,” Kindle said. “I know [Singer] is the type of person who can get in a room, get people together, and get them on the same page towards the mission.”

Others were less enthusiastic about the hire.

Jon Boeckenstedt, vice provost for enrollment management at Oregon State University, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he questioned whether ED should seek assistance from College Board. That’s because College Board has a competing product, CSS Profile, which is a paid alternative to the FAFSA.

He wondered aloud whether this might create a conflict of interest.

Let me see if I got this right: @SecCardona and @usedgov hired someone from @CollegeBoard, a company that offers a competing financial aid analysis tool to fix the free federal tool, even though it's in College Board's financial interest for FAFSA not to be fixed?

Got it.

— Jon Boeckenstedt de la Azure Cheque (@JonBoeckenstedt) June 15, 2024

Boeckenstedt also highlighted a Consumer Reports investigation in 2020 that alleged College Board shared personal student information with companies including Adobe, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Snapchat, and Yahoo. This data sharing reportedly went against College Board’s privacy promises to students.