‘Apple-esque’: New Student-Aid Mobile App Earns Oohs and Ahhs

The U.S. Education Department demonstrated its recently announced student-aid mobile app on Wednesday morning, and attendees at the demo were bowled over — though some expressed reservations about whether it was feasible.

The new app, which Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced on Tuesday, would come with a host of features that impressed advocates for simplifying the financial-aid process. Among those features: the ability to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or Fafsa, on a phone; the ability to manage a borrower’s federal student loans in the app; and the ability for students to check their credit score.

Details on the app came in the form of a glitzy release at the Federal Student Aid Training Conference for Financial Aid Professionals, in Orlando, Fla.:

In an Apple-esque release, the Office of Federal Student Aid gives first glimpse of new app #FSATC2017 pic.twitter.com/9vvOaftcCm

— Ben Barrett (@BenPBarrett) November 29, 2017

Ben Barrett, a program associate at New America, a think tank, posted several slides from the unveiling on Twitter:

Here are some highlights of the proposed federal financial aid app. First, a look at the FAFSA. Step 2 (not pictured because I was too slow on the draw) includes a list of colleges where a student can easily select where he wants to send FAFSA #fsatc2017 pic.twitter.com/Q5xArJPhUo

— Ben Barrett (@BenPBarrett) November 29, 2017

After an applicant finishes, he is automatically shown his EFC and expected Pell award #FSATC2017 pic.twitter.com/Wy3vcqg4ik

— Ben Barrett (@BenPBarrett) November 29, 2017

Second, big changes to the way a borrower manages her loans in the app. Borrower can more easily check remaining balance and set auto-debit with new federally issued pre-paid card pic.twitter.com/NEfC2Grbuz

— Ben Barrett (@BenPBarrett) November 29, 2017

And finally, repaying debt in the app comes with new features. Perhaps most interestingly, a borrower can access his credit score, which he can also lock in the app pic.twitter.com/8kMYe4J0XO

— Ben Barrett (@BenPBarrett) November 29, 2017

Observers said they were impressed with the features, but wondered whether the department was overpromising what it could deliver in the quick time frame it had identified: a full rollout to students by the spring.

This new vision of a mobile FAFSA, plus repayment management plus integration with schools, is really cool. And there’s a buzz in the room (though some is grumbling about feasibility). But as a former federal employee, what’s required to do it is overwhelming me. #FSATC2017 pic.twitter.com/ECPybqUjI9

— Clare McCann (@claremccann) November 29, 2017

Seriously -- the costs, the contracting changes, the cybersecurity upgrades, the information collection requests to cover collecting students’ data, the user testing, the policy calls, the legal analysis, the time crunch created by promising it in mid-2018... #FSATC2017

— Clare McCann (@claremccann) November 29, 2017

Andy Thomason oversees breaking-news coverage. Send him a tip at andy.thomason@chronicle.com. And follow him on Twitter @arthomason.