When FAFSA Broke, They Called This Guy

February 26
1h 15m

Episode Description

Jeremy Singer is the President of College Board, which he has led for over a decade. In that role, he oversees the SAT, AP, and other core elements of the U.S. college access ecosystem, and he’s previously had leadership roles at Kaplan and McGraw Hill Education.

Why is Jeremy on Statecraft today? After the failed redesign of FAFSA in 2023, he spent six months at the Department of Education helping to ensure the 2024 launch was successful. The revised application form meant 1.7 million students were eligible for maximum Pell Grants in the 2025-26 application cycle.

We discuss:

* Why attempts to simplify FAFSA went so badly wrong

* The problems caused by precise drafting in Congress

* How Singer got FAFSA back on track

* What politicians and GAO don’t understand about developing software

The full transcript for this conversation is at www.statecraft.pub.



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