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This year, the Department of Education unveiled an updated, streamlined version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. The financial aid application is used by millions of American students and is required for anyone seeking federal student loans or grants, as well as institutional financial aid at most colleges.

Good idea, right? Well, not exactly.

Instead of making the FAFSA easier to complete, the new form has been riddled with technical glitches and delaysimperiling access to accurate financial aid information for millions of students.

The origin of this year’s blunder stems from the 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act , which contains a provision requiring the Department of Education to create a simplified FAFSA form. The new form, launched earlier this year, is in fact significantly shorter than previous versions of the application. The new form cuts the number of questions by more than half, mostly by relying on financial information imported directly from the IRS.

However, there were signs of trouble even before the new form launched. Typically, the FAFSA goes live in October, with the deadline for completion in late June. However, this year’s form wasn’t released until December 31stand just as a “soft launch,” meaning the application was only periodically available. Yet the deadline to complete the FAFSA hasn’t been extended.

From the earliest hours of the FAFSA’s availability, persistent technical glitches have made completing the application agonizing for many students and their families. The FAFSA’s own website details dozens of errors in the form that have made completing it nearly impossible for some students.

As a result of these issues, 40 percent fewer students had completed the FAFSA by March compared to the same period last year,with total submissionsincluding incomplete forms with errorsdown 27 percent. At this rate, millions of students will miss out on federal grants or loans, and a significant portion of students won’t have the complete information they need to decide where to attend college.

Most university financial aid departments rely on FAFSA data to determine how much financial aid to offer students. But persistent issues with the FAFSA have meant that many schools aren’t receiving complete or accurate information about applicantsand even that information has been subject to lengthy delays.

Frustratingly, the Department of Education has now told colleges that they can use inaccurate or incomplete information from student FAFSA forms, as long as the end result is that students will receive more aid than they otherwise would.

“You’re doing a disservice to students if you give them the illusion that they’re eligible for more aid in one year, when really, they’re not,” Emmanual Guillory, the senior director of government relations at the American Council on Education (ACE) told The Hill . “It just puts our professionals or financial administrators on the ground in a very compromising position.”

While making the FAFSA simpler to complete sounds like a great idea on paper, the Department of Education’s latest bungle provides a perfect example of all that can go wrong when the government fumbles a seemingly simple task. There isn’t any way to hold the Department of Education accountable for the chaos and confusion this year’s FAFSA has caused for millions of American familiesso there’s not much incentive to prevent such a disaster from happening again in the future.

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Sources: Rangers close to hiring Sullivan as coach

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Sources: Rangers close to hiring Sullivan as coach

The New York Rangers are in advanced contract talks to make former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan their next head coach, sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Kevin Weekes on Thursday.

The deal is expected to be one of the richest coaching contracts in NHL history, the sources said.

Sullivan would head to New York in a move that is coming together three days after he left his job with Pittsburgh, where he coached for 10 seasons and won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.

The Penguins have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons amid a retooling of the roster.

David Quinn, Sullivan’s top assistant in Pittsburgh, is not expected to join him in New York. Quinn will be a candidate for other head coaching vacancies, including Pittsburgh’s, according to sources.

John Tortorella is a strong possibility to rejoin the Rangers organization. Sullivan, Quinn and Tortorella were on the coaching staff for Team USA at Four Nations.

In New York, Sullivan would replace Peter Laviolette, who was fired after the Rangers didn’t make the postseason for the first time since 2021.

Sullivan was selected by the Rangers in the 1987 draft but never played for New York, choosing to stay in college at Boston University before going on to an 11-year NHL playing career with four teams.

Sullivan, 57, previously served as a Rangers assistant coach from 2009 to 2013 on Tortorella’s staff. He also was the head coach of the Boston Bruins for the 2003-04 and 2005-06 seasons.

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Draisaitl, Hellebuyck, Kucherov are Hart finalists

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Draisaitl, Hellebuyck, Kucherov are Hart finalists

Edmonton Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl, Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and Tampa Bay Lightning standout Nikita Kucherov were named finalists for the 2024-25 Hart Memorial Trophy on Thursday.

The award is presented “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team” and voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Draisaitl, 29, led the NHL in goals (52), tied for third in points (106) and was a career-best plus-32 in 71 games this season. He won the award in 2019-20 and is a two-time finalist.

Hellebuyck, 31, led the league in wins (47), goals-against average (2.00) and shutouts (eight) and was second in save percentage (.925) among goalies to play at least 25 games. The Vezina Trophy finalist as the best goaltender in the NHL is a first-time Hart finalist.

Kucherov, 31, led the NHL in scoring for the second consecutive season with 121 points (37 goals, 84 assists). He won the Hart Trophy in 2018-19 and is a three-time finalist.

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Injured Scheifele won’t travel with Jets for G6

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Injured Scheifele won't travel with Jets for G6

Winnipeg Jets coach Scott Arniel said Thursday that star center Mark Scheifele will not travel with team ahead of Game 6 against the St. Louis Blues.

Scheifele will remain in Winnipeg after he missed the second and third periods of his team’s 5-3 victory Wednesday against the Blues in Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.

“You’re hoping for the best that maybe he wakes up today and things are better,” Arniel told reporters before the team flight to St. Louis. “But right now, he won’t be making the trip, and we’ll just go day-to-day moving forward.”

With 13:51 remaining in the opening period, the Jets were in the Blues’ zone when Scheifele had just played the puck along the half wall. That’s when he was instantly checked by Blues captain Brayden Schenn. Scheifele appeared to be concentrating on the puck and looked as if he did not see Schenn, who connected with the top half of Scheifele’s chest and knocked him down to the ice.

Schenn was given a two-minute minor for interference and another two-minute minor for roughing.

A little more than 10 minutes later, Scheifele was involved in another physical sequence. He was just about to reach the Blues’ zone when forward Radek Faksa also checked him and appeared to have struck Scheifele in the same area as the previous hit from Schenn.

Scheifele finished the first period, but Arniel spoke to the officials as both teams were entering the dressing room before first intermission. Blues coach Jim Montgomery confirmed with reporters after the game that Arniel spoke to the officials about the Schenn hit before sharing his thoughts.

“Let’s make it clear: Fifty-five got hurt from the Faksa hit,” Montgomery said. “He played six minutes after the Schenn hit. He didn’t come back after he got rocked by Faksa.”

Upon hearing Montgomery’s comments, Arniel had some thoughts of his own.

“I didn’t know Monty got his medical degree and can say how our player got hurt. He’s way off base and should not make that comment,” Arniel told reporters. “There’s some things that have been going on in this series and that was a repeat of what we’ve seen before: A player leaving his feet and then hitting a player in a very unprotected spot. Like hitting him in the sense, almost blindsiding him. Not happy with how the call was made. A two-minute minor. Not even looking at it is what I was upset about.

“It is something we have talked to the league about for five games.”

On Thursday, Arniel was asked if Scheifele was in concussion protocol.

“I’m not going down that road,” Arniel said.

It’s possible that the Jets could once again turn to Vladislav Namestnikov like they did in Game 5 and elevate him to the top line. The second-line center would take Scheifele’s place on the first line alongside Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi.

Namestnikov, who had 11 goals and 38 points in 78 regular-season games, had his strongest game of the postseason in Game 5. He finished with a goal and two points while logging 17:15 of ice time.

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