LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona visited Little Rock on Tuesday to hear from student loan borrowers and tout White House plans for debt forgiveness and financial aid.
In a discussion with several educators, Cardona discussed how the Biden administration is working to fix the nation's "broken higher education system."
While the Department of Education is working on improvements, Cardona said they've also faced some challenges.
"We have a broken higher education system in our country," Cardona said. "It's not affordable... not accessible to all, and it's not easy to shift."
Cardona said he's focused on improving it.
At Tuesday's roundtable discussion, educators from the Pine Bluff and Little Rock school districts shared stories about when they found out their student loans were forgiven.
"I'm no longer burdened with expenditures that I had with my student loan debt," LRSD teacher Lakeitha Austin said. "Because of the student loan forgiveness, I can now experience an increase in my disposable income without making those payments. My credit score was impacted immensely."
Cardona said the department is working to provide more affordable repayment plans to reduce the financial burden of higher education.
Earlier this year, the department rolled out an updated FAFSA application, and while the goal was to streamline and simplify the process, some students and families experienced issues.
"We took on the arduous task of redoing FAFSA," Cardona said. "We did, and there were delays. It's frustrating, and it's challenging."
According to Cardona, he would have preferred to have it rolled out in October, but said they're sending the applicants' information to schools right now.
"It's working now... so apply if you haven't yet," Cardona said. "There are potentially 600,000 more students who can access federal aid that couldn't be done with the old system, so my mentality is to get it done."
He also said it should take about 20 minutes now instead of an hour.
"Fixing FAFSA was another piece of that pie to make higher education more affordable, more accessible," Cardona said. "We believe that our country's growth depends on how we fix that broken system."
Cardona said the number of applications this year is down, and here in Arkansas, there are about 26% fewer applications. He also said if you apply today, schools will have your information by the end of this week or early next week.