Currently, the number of people who have filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, is down 10% compared to this time last year.
Just two blocks off Monument Square in Portland, Maine, downhill from the public library, sits a squat, gray flatiron building. Inside is a soup kitchen that has provided three meals a day, every day, to hungry Mainers in its oft-crowded dining room for more than 39 years. The staff is welcoming, the location is central, and it’s nearly impossible to get kicked out. The buffet-style spreads include loaded chef salads and heaps of bread, vegetarian options, and hearty casseroles built to nullify the New England cold. Most important, there’s always dessert.
Since 1980, Preble Street has been the linchpin of the city’s response to homelessness and food insecurity and a life-sustaining resource for thousands. Joe Conroy is the senior director of food programs and operations at the agency that operates the eponymous soup kitchen. Leveraging a complex food-rescue and -donation system, his team churns out some 24,000 meals a month served in a cafeteria-style dining room. On any gi
The Washington Post, students from majority Black and Latino communities are required to submit additional proof of income for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at higher rates than other students.
FAFSA audits nearly 25% of the estimated 18 million applicants during the 2019-2020 cycle. Compare that to the less than half a percent of all taxpayers audited by the Internal Revenue Service last year.
Though the government is working to reduce the obstacle for students to have to provide additional information on their applications for aid, the process delays funds, and has left some students questioning their place in college altogether.
A Washington Post analysis of federal data found that the Education Department has disproportionately selected students from majority-Black and Latino neighborhoods to provide further proof that the information on their financial aid application is accurate.