Colleges & universities

Time - According to a 2024 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), in 2020, 3.8 million college students reported experiencing food insecurity. More than half of these students reported skipping meals or not eating multiple times a day because they couldn’t afford food.This food insecurity crisis didn’t come out of the blue. College students have struggled to access sufficient food for decades. What used to be viewed as the college trope of a student eating ramen for four years has become a full-blown crisis. More students with lower incomes and less generational wealth are enrolling in college. The cost of attending has grown along with increased food, housing, and other living expenses. The recent GAO report provides the first-ever national systemic data on just how prevalent this crisis is.  

NPR - There’s no question, the rollout of the revamped FAFSA – the Free Application for Federal Student Aid that millions of students must fill out to qualify for college loans and grants – was a slow-motion explosion of mistakes and miscommunication by the U.S. Department of Education. On Tuesday, though, the public got a detailed map of that disaster, thanks to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and testimony before a House subcommittee.

These GAO reviews and testimony come as the department prepares to launch the next FAFSA cycle, which will again be delayed, with a small rollout in October and a full launch by December. Some of the problems outlined by the GAO will sound familiar; NPR has covered them extensively here and here. But, by reviewing federal data and conducting interviews with department employees, GAO investigators offer the fullest picture yet of the department’s failures and their impact on applicants....

During the early rollout, nearly three-quarters of all calls to FAFSA’s call center weren’t answered due to understaffing, adding to the frustrations many experienced, NPR’s Cory Turner tells Up First. The GAO review also showed that around 9% fewer high school seniors and other first-time applicants submitted a form, with the largest decline among lower-income students. The Education Department has postponed the form’s next launch to Dec. 1 and has tried to reassure students that they’ve learned from their mistakes.