Financial Aid

Department of Education Launches Federal Student Aid Feedback System

The ED’s new online portal enables federal student aid recipients to submit complaints and feedback, among other features.

• By Sri Ravipati
• 07/06/16

The United States Department of Education (ED) announced the launch of an online portal that collects feedback about federal student aid programs. The Federal Student Aid (FSA) Feedback System enables students, parents, borrowers and others to file complaints about their experiences with federal aid programs.

Specifically, the FSA Feedback System is designed to:

• Handle complaints about applying for and receiving federal loans, grants and work study; federal loan servicing; the collection of defaulted federal loans; and the institutional administration of programs;
• Report suspicious activity, including violations of federal laws regarding student aid; and
• Allow customers to submit positive feedback, either about their own experiences or on behalf of others.

The portal fulfills one main objective of President Obama’s 2015 Student Aid Bill of Rights: to help borrowers manage their federal student debt, improve federal student loan servicing and protect taxpayers’ investments in the student aid program. Using the feedback, the ED will contact institutions to resolve issues.

Partner agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network, will be allowed access to data collected through the portal in order to solve special complaints, such as issues with private student loans. The ED aims to publish the first annual report for the FSA Feedback System this fall on the FSA Data Center.

To access the system, visit the FSA site.