There has been much apprehension and hand-wringing again this week since the U.S. Department of Education announced — again — a delay in its process for federal financial aid for college students.
The department said that student data from the newly revamped Free Application for Federal Student Aid would not be sent to colleges until March, two months later than expected, which will likely mean that students won’t get their financial aid packages from colleges until early April. The reason for the delay is aimed at helping students: More will be eligible for aid as a result. But this will significantly shorten the window they have to weigh their options and reply to colleges by the traditional May 1 decision deadline.
» READ MORE: Big changes in applying for federal financial aid are coming: Temple official breaks down what it all means.
In the meantime, financial aid and college access organizations are encouraging colleges to be flexible with students and families in light of the delay.
“During the pandemic, many institutions extended their enrollment, scholarship, and financial aid deadlines beyond the traditional May 1 date, and we urge institutions to make similar accommodations this year,” said the nine groups, including the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the American Council on Education. “We all want students and families to have the time they need to consider their financial options before making enrollment decisions.”
Francesca Reed, vice president for enrollment management and marketing at Neumann University, a 2,100-student Catholic university in Aston, shared her insight into what this means for students and families. She has worked in enrollment management for about 23 years, which includes financial aid.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The first delay in the newly revamped FAFSA came last year. The forms weren’t available for students to access until December, right?
Yes, December. It was a soft rollout, they called it. So it was only live for certain hours during the day. A limited number of individuals could actually get on it.
What was the impact of that?
There was a lot of frustration for a number of families who were having a hard time logging in, or they might have been kicked out if they didn’t have enough information. I myself have a college-age son … and so for me to experience it firsthand was very interesting. … Then, about the second week in January, they finally made an announcement that it was fully operational.
Was the form itself any better after the change?
Some parts of it are better. The ability to add additional schools is promising. The fact that it is available in 11 languages is wonderful The fact that it is shorter [a lot fewer questions] and saves families a lot of time are all great benefits. And, of course, the major part of this is that more students will have access to need-based aid. So those are all the good things.
The frustration right now is families, as well as institutions, were expecting to have the FAFSA information by the end of January, if not February. And so the recent announcement that it won’t be until mid-March is really concerning.
Why the new delay?
The Department of Education had created these tables to estimate a family’s income and assets. … When they initially did that, they didn’t include inflation-adjusted amounts, which is initially something they wanted to do. Over the past couple weeks, they decided they were going to go ahead and do that. That’s for the benefit of the student in the long term. That means potentially more people may fall into Pell [grant] eligibility. (The Washington Post reported that if it hadn’t been corrected, it could have cost families $1.8 billion in aid.) But what that means is now they have to go back in and make these adjustments to the tables.
What will the new delay mean for students and families?
Typically, the FAFSA was available Oct. 1. So…
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