It’s More Difficult to File Student Aid Complaints, Dems Say

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, submitted the letter to the Department of Education on Monday evening.

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Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and four of her fellow Democrats asked Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a letter Monday why her department has made it more difficult to file complaints about federal student aid and demanded her staff remove any extra steps that have been added to the process.

“ED is covering up its attempts to make [the Office of Federal Student Aid] less responsive to millions of students, families, and borrowers who rely on the agency to lower the cost of attending college and protect them from loan servicer misconduct,” the senators wrote. “We urge you to immediately act on our findings by streamlining the ‘Submit a Complaint’ process and restoring FSA’s workforce so borrowers can get the help they need.”

Who Signed the Letter?

Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.)

In the letter, Warren states that she told FSA in March that the button for submitting online complaints had been “hidden.” The department responded in April that the button had just been moved from the top of the webpage to the footer and relabeled as “submit feedback.” The department added that no employees who handle technical functions of the aid applications of loan servicing had been laid off, and while some employees that handle complaints were, the remaining employees will “still be responding” to future complaints.

But the Democrats say they tested those claims and found the department’s reassurances were misleading. Although the department did move and rename the complaint button, it also added a series of four extra navigation clicks that must be made before the user actually reaches the webpage where they can file a complaint. (Inside Higher Ed checked the website and verified these steps. You can see screenshots of the process below.)

“Via an unintuitive, multi-step process,” the department is “making it more difficult for borrowers to let ED know when they are experiencing issues with their student loan servicer,” the letter reads.

The senators argue that this change was geared toward increasing the difficulty of filing complaints, citing an email sent by a senior department staff member and obtained by Politico. According to a report published by the department at the end of the Biden presidency, more than 289,000 complaints were filed with FSA in 2024 alone.

In the email obtained by Politico, the official wrote, “I believe this change would help decrease contact center volume and the number of complaints … so an overall win.”