U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona is visiting Connecticut on Tuesday as part of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Action Week.
Mr. Cardona will attend several events during his visit, including a FAFSA clinic in Hartford and a roundtable discussion at Community College in Middletown.
This comes as the U.S. Department of Education made changes to the FAFSA application aimed at making the application process easier. Instead, the new application has caused delays for students and schools that are still being fixed.
The Department of Education announced that around 30% of applications are affected.
Some students are still waiting for financial aid ahead of the May 1 national college decision date, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling. As a result, many universities have postponed the deadline to guarantee admission to students after May 15th.
During Tuesday's visit, Cardona will visit the FAFSA clinic for high school seniors and their families at Hartford Public High School.
In addition to the FAFSA clinic, Cardona will also visit correctional facilities in Cheshire. He will observe classroom instruction on career paths at Cheshire Correctional Facility.
Ms. Cardona will also participate in a roundtable discussion at Middlesex Community College celebrating Community College Month. This discussion will discuss partnerships between correctional facilities and community colleges to create career pathway courses for incarcerated students.
Cardona, a native of Connecticut, served as the state's education commissioner before becoming U.S. Secretary of Education in 2021.