Republicans Find a Scapegoat for the FAFSA Mess

Inside Higher Ed

Katherine Knott

April 15, 2024

After months of decrying the Biden administration’s disastrous handling of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) and pledging to hold someone accountable, Republicans in Congress have begun to focus their ire on one man: Richard Cordray, who leads the agency that oversees the application.

“It’s time for Cordray to go and for the department to wake up and realize that blindly following Biden’s agenda is irreparably damaging student success,” Representative Virginia Foxx, the North Carolina Republican who chairs the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said in a statement to Inside Higher Ed on Friday.

Frustration and fury over the slow and glitchy FAFSA rollout, which has created havoc for many students and colleges alike, is bipartisan. But Cordray, the man in charge, is a familiar foe for conservatives on Capitol Hill, and so far only they have called for his dismissal.

The former Ohio attorney general, an ally of Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, took over the Office of Federal Student Aid in May 2021. The agency, which is under the Education Department, has an expansive portfolio that includes running the student loan system and FAFSA. Cordray’s appointment was decried by Foxx and other conservatives.

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