StudentAid.gov Outage After Layoffs

StudentAid.gov, the federal website for student loans and financial aid, experienced an hours-long outage on Wednesday. This incident underscored the risks associated with the rapid reduction of staff at the United States — United States Department of Education, a policy pursued by President Donald Trump with the aim of dismantling the agency. Over 300 employees were cut from United States — Federal Student Aid, including the entire team responsible for the FAFSA form's technology division. Laid-off staff, though technically employed until March 21, had limited access to their work systems, hindering the response to the outage. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators reported numerous users experiencing technical issues with the FAFSA form, which is crucial for college financial aid. This event follows previous technical problems with the FAFSA during Joe Biden's administration, which had drawn criticism.