ST. LOUIS 鈥 Local students and their parents say they are frustrated by the latest setback in what鈥檚 been a rocky rollout of changes to the college financial aid process.
The , or FAFSA, form launched Dec. 30 鈥 three months later than usual because of an application redesign. The U.S. Department of Education initially told colleges to expect student eligibility data from the forms in late January. Now the agency says the information won鈥檛 be sent until early March or later, just weeks before the typical May 1 deadline for tuition deposits for the fall semester.
Colleges use the FAFSA data to determine financial aid packages, which are often sent with letters of admission. The federal application is also used to determine eligibility for other government aid programs, like work-study and loans, along with some private scholarships. The delay means students might be comparing prospective colleges without knowing the costs.
People are also reading…
鈥淭he very real anxiety, frustration, stress that students and families are navigating during what is already a fraught season that seems to keep snowballing ... the reality is, it鈥檚 so very much. A lot of young people in particular are shouldering the burden of this,鈥 said Teresa Steinkamp, director of advising at the .
The setback affects high school seniors as well as current college students trying to renew their financial aid and transfer students like SaNiyah Stephens of 51黑料.
Stephens, 19, is a sophomore at Tennessee State University who has applied to attend Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing in the fall.
When Stephens tried to fill out the online FAFSA on Dec. 31 it wasn鈥檛 available yet. Then when she got access a few days later, a software glitch didn鈥檛 allow her mother to sign the form. Stephens is one of many students nationwide who have been unable to complete the form or log back in to correct mistakes. Federal education officials said students will be able to make corrections to their form starting in March.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just been very stressful making sure all my information is sent to my school for financial aid purposes,鈥 Stephens said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e playing the waiting game.鈥
The blasted the latest postponement.
鈥淥n the very day that schools were expecting FAFSA applicant information, they were instead notified by the U.S. Department of Education that they shouldn鈥檛 expect to receive that data until March, at the earliest. These continued delays, communicated at the last minute, threaten to harm the very students and families that federal student aid is intended to help,鈥 said the association鈥檚 president Justin Draeger, in a written statement.
In its Tuesday announcement acknowledging the delay, the federal agency mentioned work to update calculations to account for inflation, which it said will provide 鈥渁n additional $1.8 billion in aid.鈥 The new application form was designed to be easier and expand eligibility to more families, federal officials said.
The overhaul was required by Congress and aimed at simplifying the form and making an estimated 610,000 more low-income students eligible for federal aid.
But those students are most impacted by the timeline crunch, said , assistant vice provost and director of student financial services at Washington University.
鈥淭he challenge is a lot of schools use only the FAFSA in order to create financial aid offers, at the earliest they receive this information in March and students will have a tight turnaround to make their decisions,鈥 Runiewicz said.
Washington U. is one of a few hundred schools that also use data from an application for private or institutional scholarships to make their financial aid packages. The university is still preparing for the fallout from the federal delays, Runiewicz said.
鈥淥ur students are going to have financial assistance offers, but they might be deciding between Wash U. and another school and will they have all the information they need to make the decision?鈥 he asked.
The good news is colleges will likely be flexible with their deadlines for deposits to give prospective students more time to analyze their offers, Runiewicz said.
鈥淓verybody is in this together and it feels overwhelming,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 promise we鈥檒l get families through this.鈥
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
