The Education Department’s ongoing meltdown due to its failed implementation of its new website for its Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) should, on the merits, be an ongoing major national story. But the Regime Media have chosen only to cover the story in a very sparing manner, shielding those responsible for the FAFSA meltdown from any scrutiny or accountability.
Watch the oddly detached introduction to the report filed by Meg Oliver for the CBS Evening News:
NORAH O’DONNELL: Nearly two weeks after what is traditionally College Decision Day, many students are still unable to commit to a school. That's because of computer glitches plaguing the Education Department's newly overhauled financial aid system. CBS’s Meg Oliver has an important update.
MEG OLIVER: With high school graduation just weeks away, anxiety was mounting for senior Jojo Henderson. The 18-year-old from Pittsburg, Texas couldn't commit to college without knowing his financial aid.
JOJO HENDERSON: I’m frustrated, because it’s just like- you do everything that you're supposed to do and then you have to wait on the government to catch up.
The FAFSA meltdown is presented as just a singular misfortune that happened spontaneously. Like a tornado, perhaps, or a volcanic eruption- and most certainly not as the result of massive bureaucratic incompetence.
This ongoing disaster falls squarely in the lap of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, who is far more focused on making sure men compete in women’s sports, change in women’s locker rooms and pee in women’s restrooms than in ensuring that college-bound students are able to access federal financial aid. Had this happened during the Trump administration and under Betsy DeVos’ watch at the Department of Education, the media’s collective hair would be on fire. This story would be national, running near-daily on A-block and with wall-to-wall coverage of any related congressional hearings, with someone hounding DeVos the entire time.
Instead, Cardona has benefited from the privilege of serving in an administration with such lightning rods as Alejandro Mayorkas and Pete Buttigieg, therefore mostly escaping scrutiny.
The Regime Media have certainly earned their title.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on the CBS Evening News on Monday, May 13th, 2024:
NORAH O’DONNELL: Nearly two weeks after what is traditionally college decision day, many students are still unable to commit to a school. That's because of computer glitches plaguing the Education Department's newly overhauled financial aid system. CBS’s Meg Oliver has an important update.
MEG OLIVER: With high school graduation just weeks away, anxiety was mounting for senior Jojo Henderson. The 18-year-old from Pittsburg, Texas couldn't commit to college without knowing his financial aid.
JOJO HENDERSON: I’m frustrated, because it’s just like- you do everything that you're supposed to do and then you have to wait on the government to catch up.
OLIVER: Henderson filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, almost five months ago. He finally received his financial information last week, after some college decision deadlines. Typically, the Department of Education releases the forms on October 1st, then sends the students’ data to colleges within one to three days of submission to calculate aid. This year, the application forms came out three months late. It's estimated more than a quarter of colleges have still not sent aid packages.
OLIVER: Did you think of giving up? Maybe not going to college?
JAELYN JAMES: Yeah, many times actually.
OLIVER: Really?
JAMES: Um, I was just, like- so tired of waiting.
OLIVER: New Jersey high school senior Jaelyn James finally received her aid package close to the decision deadline.
SARA URQUIDEZ: My biggest advice is to not give up.
OLIVER: Sara Urquidez oversees counseling for thousands of public school students in the Dallas area.
URQUIDEZ: Ask for extensions, ask if deposits for housing are refundable, ask for anything they possibly can to help make a decision but don't opt out at this point in the process.
OLIVER: A FAFSA fiasco that's still not finished. Meg Oliver, CBS News, Wayne, New Jersey.
