The Education Department has made only limited progress in updating and restructuring its student financial aid databases while taking on the heavy burden of running the direct student loan program, concluded a General Accounting Office report released Tuesday.
"Without a systems architecture and the ability to easily integrate its systems, the department continues to acquire independent systems to support specific student financial aid programs, programs that cannot easily share information. Accordingly, the cost of developing and maintaining these stand-alone systems continues to mount," the report said.
Assistant Education Secretary for Postsecondary Education David Longanecker, testifying at a House Education and the Workforce subcommittee hearing, said the department is still effectively managing $40 billion in federal student aid.
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