FAFSA delays may be detrimental to families and students planning to attend college.
By Landon Crann
Students and families should be weary in the coming months due to another delay of FAFSA from the U.S. Department of Education, extending the delay from late January to the first half of March. One major part of the delay comes from the department fixing a $1.8 billion dollar mistake. This mistake may have been especially detrimental to those of lower-income. This mistake could be attributed to a possible decline in college enrollments due to feeling discouraged from not receiving the correct amount of money from the FAFSA.
The deadline for college decision day, on May 1st, leaves very little time to be able to weigh their options in terms of what school they want to attend. This is on top of how they will be able to support themselves and pay for school. With colleges needing weeks to load the data, it may be until April that college students will know just how much they’re getting out of FAFSA. The department is hoping that the college will reconsider giving students more time to accept offers of admissions presented to them in light of the mistakes they have made.
Students who have been enrolled in FAFSA may have been at risk had their error gone unnoticed with consequences such as students appearing to have more money available to them than they actually do. This would have knocked many out of the running for federal, state, and institutional aid. The main goal of the department is to allow for more students and families to be able to afford and enroll in college to further their education, but making the application easier does take time. The more time that is taken, creates a larger concern as it will lead to a domino effect. Foundations who rely on said data are being affected as time goes on as they need the data to dispense scholarships.
“These unacceptable delays from the Biden administration create the real likelihood that many students will forgo college because they cannot choose a school without knowing their eligibility for student aid,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), the top Republican on the Senate Education Committee. Many critics blame the Biden administration for these delays from FAFSA, putting many students in a very tough place. The Department of Education, regardless of who is to blame for the delays, is working hard to bring the aid to students as quickly as they possibly can.
Trying to file for the 2024-2025 FASFA has been really frustrating. On the day that the form officially opened, I was eager to get it done since I knew how stressful it was for me the first time. It took me way longer than expected, and I had yet to learn what they decided to change on the form for this year. I was annoyed to see the website down for maintenance, even more so when I could still barely access the form later. I’m stuck at the part where my parents would need to fill out their information on the form, as many other students are. I have tried consistently for a month and still have the same error notification each time. Even the staff who work on the website have little information about the situation. I had gone to see if others were having the same issue as I am and stumbled upon the Reddit page for the FASFA. One post was by someone who said to work with the staff and explained that they are just as confused and frustrated about the situation as everyone else. Overall, I am disappointed and angry that a program that can affect many people has become highly unusable.
Hi Landon! Wow, what a fascinating story. I had absolutely no idea about the mistake that FAFSA made in regards to the 1.8 billion dollars. This was a great article to write about since it is most definitely important to all Glendale Community College students, and really any student in general. FAFSA can be a very complicated process as it is given all of its different components and aspects. However, to bring a delay on top of the already existing complexities can very well prove to be devastating for many students, as your article explains. I wonder what happened exactly for FAFSA to make such a huge mistake. Something that I would also add is how this delay could potentially put students in a huge limbo in our already inflated economy, especially those students that are classified into the low income category. I would imagine that a lot of students are most likely going through the process of making a decision in regards to what they should do for work and school with this mistake. Unfortunately too, most students do not have the luxury of time to make such decisions so this delay is probably limiting many opportunities for them. Your article definitely brings acute awareness to this issue and does an amazing job at also leaving a lasting impact in the reader’s mind. Your writing also engages the reader to think about this issue with intention. I also liked the way your article flowed and the format it was in, it made it very easy to read!
First of all thank you for creating this post. This is great information that helps bring the light to the issues surrounding this year’s FAFSA and the struggles of those who are directly affected by it. As someone who has depended on FAFSA for the majority of my college year due to my financial and familial situation I truly find it disheartening to hear about these issues. To not be able to know how much money you will receive is truly detrimental and stressful especially when the thought of not being able to attend college due to this issue is brought up. FAFSA in itself can be a hassle to get set up with all the paperwork and taxes but to have even more issues on top of that is worrisome. Oftentimes students who are in a rough financial situation have to plan their classes around what they can handle to manage a good gpa and keep in good standing with the satisfactory academic progress standards and what they pay for with the help of FAFSA. These issues brought up through this post truly are an issue that should be minded.