SCHUMER REVEALS: NEW DEPT. OF EDUCATION POLICY PUTS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS DESTINED FOR BUFFALO AND SYRACUSE IN LIMBO; SENATOR PUSHES EDUCATION SEC. DEVOS TO MAKE SURE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM CAN ACCESS THE INFO THEY NEED TO MAKE PAYMENTS ON TIME
Recent Changes to the Department of Education’s Guidance Prohibits FAFSA Data From Being Released To Private Scholarship Providers Like Buffalo/Syracuse ‘Say Yes’ Chapters
Senator Says ‘Say Yes’ Provides Millions Of Dollars In Scholarships For Upstate New York’s Students Every Year, Including Thousands of Students in Buffalo and Syracuse
Schumer To Department Of Ed: Expel This New, Disruptive Policy Immediately
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer today pointed to a harmful U.S. Department of Education policy that is preventing Say Yes – which helps thousands of Syracuse and Buffalo students go to college – from accessing a critical student financial aid data. Without streamlined access to data from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), Say Yes scholarship payments could be delayed, causing students from Syracuse and Buffalo to be charged with steep late fees or worse delayed enrollment for failing to pay their full tuition. Schumer said thousands of students in Upstate New York rely on scholarship money from Says Yes to cover school expenses and that Say Yes calculates the amount of funding a student receives using FAFSA data.
"Over the years, Say Yes chapters in Buffalo and Syracuse have helped transform the lives of thousands of city school students by helping them attain and afford a college degree. But thanks to the thoughtless actions of bureaucrats in Washington, vital organizations like Say Yes are unable to access the financial data they need to provide the financial aid that thousands of Syracuse and Buffalo students depend on to cover the costs of their educations. The recent changes to the Department of Education’s guidelines do not support or protect our students,” said Senator Schumer. “College students should be focused on their education rather than worrying about the risk of delayed enrollment or steep late fees due to scholarship delays. For a state like New York, which is home to numerous colleges and thousands of students, this new rule will have one clear outcome: fewer students will get the help they need to finance their education. That is why I am calling on the Department of Education to continue to allow organizations like Say Yes to access the crucial information so that thousands of students who need help can get it. Our students worked too hard to have the rug pulled from under them.”
Schumer said Section 483(a)(3)(E) of the Higher Education Act provides that the Secretary may designate certain entities to be authorized to use data from FAFSA to award aid. Currently, this status is granted to only two private scholarship providers—the United Negro College Fund and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. Schumer said it is vital that the Department of Education extend this status to a broader group of private scholarship providers to ensure that students in New York State and beyond are able to optimize the use of private scholarships and minimize scholarship displacement over their course of study.
Schumer said New Yorkers who rely on Say Yes and other scholarships programs have been negatively impacted by the Department of Education’s new guidance, which prohibits the release of data from FAFSA to private scholarship providers, even with the student’s authorization. Schumer said this policy will make it harder for New York’s Say Yes students to fund their education and that the Department of Education should make it easier for organizations to access the data instead of putting up hurdles. Schumer said students across Upstate New York will be expecting their Say Yes funding which now could be delayed, or worse, could never come at all. According to Say Yes, they have arranged more than $41 million in college scholarships and have been instrumental in recruitment and retention of college students in the cities of Syracuse and Buffalo.
The first Say Yes city-wide chapter was piloted in Syracuse, beginning in 2009 and the second followed four years later, in Buffalo. These two Say Yes chapters have awarded nearly $18.9 million in direct, postsecondary scholarships and helped send over 7,800 students off to college, most since 2013. Since 2009, the Syracuse Say Yes has helped more than 3,800 Syracuse City School District (SCSD) graduates attend college – increasing SCSD’s college attendance rate by over 33 percent. Schumer said the Department of Education must remove hurdles that hurt New York’s students and make it easier for Say Yes to get access to FAFSA data.
Schumer added, “As a parent, I know how vital a college education is. I also know we need to ensure that families and students in need can get the scholarships, loans and other funding they need to pay for college. The Department of Education should be working with students in need instead of introducing new hurdles to achieving a college education. No student in New York State should have to forgo college for even a semester because their scholarship was bogged down in bureaucracy.”
Ahmeed Turner, Say Yes Syracuse Scholarship Director says, “Say Yes to Education is a national nonprofit foundation that partners with communities around the goal that all public school students graduate from high school – and do so ready to succeed in college, with the wherewithal to afford it. Say Yes to Education offers Scholarships to all public school students that meet Say Yes eligibility criteria. The Scholarships Say Yes offers are last dollar Scholarships. For Say Yes to work, it must have information on adjusted gross income, expected family contribution and Federal Pell awards, among other data from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. To gather that information Say Yes works with its Higher Ed partner Institutions and then uses that information to calculate and verify scholarship awards. To put it simply: Say Yes cannot calculate a 'last dollar' scholarship award without having a firm handle on the 'first dollar.’ ”
Schumer argued the reinterpretation of existing law upended long-standing guidance and practice with little notice for students, institutions, and scholarship providers, and has already caused confusion and for some scholarship payments to be delayed. For instance, Say Yes Syracuse has had to reach out to the 600 college students it supports through scholarships to explain the new process and help students retrieve the necessary paperwork from their school and then send it to the organization. Without access to all the necessary FAFSA information in a systematic and efficient manner, these “last dollar” scholarship payments for the spring semester were delayed, in some cases not arriving until after the payments were due. This could disrupt the education of thousands of New York’s students.
Schumer explained many students in Western and Central New York often rely on outside scholarships from private organizations and foundations to fill the gap between the total cost of college and the federal, state, and institutional financial aid they may receive. Among its many college access initiatives, Say Yes makes “the last dollar” tuition scholarships available to students who qualify based on income. Before the new guidance was released in September, Say Yes and similar scholarship providers had been able to work with institutions to get the necessary data, such as demonstrated financial need, expected family contribution, and award amounts to calculate the “last dollar” contribution. This coordination streamlined the process for students and families. Since the ban has been instituted, students must now obtain their own financial aid data from the school and send it individually to any outside entity that would use it to award them additional financial aid.
A copy of Schumer’s letter appears below:
Secretary Betsy DeVos
U.S. Department of Education
Dear Secretary DeVos:
I am writing to urge you to extend the status of designated entities authorized to use data from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to award aid to a broader group of organizations that provide private scholarship funding for postsecondary study such as Say Yes to Education which is based in New York. The Department of Education’s new guidance that prohibits the release of data from FAFSA to private scholarship providers, even with the student’s authorization, has created a yet another hurdle students must overcome while trying to finance their college education.
As you know, students often rely on outside scholarships from private organizations and foundations to fill the gap between the total cost of college and the federal, state, and institutional financial aid they may receive. Among its many college access initiatives, Say Yes makes “last dollar” tuition scholarships available to students who qualify based on income. Before the new guidance was released in September, Say Yes and similar scholarship providers have been able to work with institutions to get the necessary data such as demonstrated financial need, expected family contribution, and award amounts to calculate the “last dollar” contribution. This coordination streamlined the process for students and families. As a result, since 2009, Say Yes has awarded $18.9 million in direct, postsecondary scholarships, supporting 7,800 students from New York. Since the ban has been instituted, students must now obtain their own financial aid data from the school and send it individually to any outside entity that would use it to award them additional financial aid.
This reinterpretation of existing law upended long-standing guidance and practice with little notice for students, institutions, and scholarship providers, and has already caused confusion and for some scholarship payments to be delayed. For instance, Say Yes Syracuse and Say Yes Buffalo have had to reach out to the thousands of college students they support through scholarships to explain the new process, and help students retrieve the necessary paperwork from their school and then send it to the organization. Without access to all the necessary FAFSA information in a systematic and efficient manner, these “last dollar” scholarship payments for the spring semester were delayed, in some cases not arriving until after the payments were due. This could have disrupted the education of many. Is this not the very type of bureaucracy you came to Washington, DC to fix?
Section 483(a)(3)(E) of the Higher Education Act provides that the Secretary may designate certain entities to be authorized to use data from the FAFSA to award aid in addition to institutions. It is my understanding that this status is currently granted to only two private scholarship providers—the United Negro College Fund and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. I strongly urge you to extend this status to a broader group of private scholarship providers to ensure that students are able to optimize the use of private scholarships and minimize scholarship displacement over their course of study.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
###
