In response to a major security breach in which hackers tried to obtain tax information, federal officials have announced a change to the financial-aid application that some worry could discourage students from applying for the support they need to go to college.
In a memo this month, the U.S. Department of Education said that when families use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, this fall, they can transfer tax data from the Internal Revenue Service, but they won’t be able to see it.
But some student-aid experts said the inability to verify data would likely be a disincentive for families to use the data-retrieval tool.
