NORTH CAROLINA, USA — New data shows that the number of high school seniors applying for financial aid is down this year, and the reason could be the delay surrounding the new FAFSA application.
According to the National College Attainment Network, 37% of seniors had submitted a FAFSA application as of April 12, down from 50% this time last year.
It all comes after several issues with the new application form, which prevented millions of students from seeing how much aid they would receive for school.
WFMY News 2 spoke to Cathy Mueller with Mapping Your Future about the application process and the problems surrounding FAFSA.
She answered the questions below:
What is the latest update on the FAFSA challenges we’ve seen this year?
A: Well, the good news is that more and more students are able to complete the FAFSA successfully, and for many, it is a very quick process.
For students who are still having issues, I encourage them to talk to their high school counselor, contact the College Foundation of North Carolina, or contact us here at Mapping Your Future.
If a FAFSA has been completed and processed, what happens next?
A: The student should receive an email that they have a FAFSA Submission Summary to review. If a student hasn’t seen that email and/or hasn’t logged into their StudentAid.gov account recently, they should do that to check on the status of their FAFSA. They’ll be able to see on their account dashboard if they have a FAFSA Submission Summary. If they have that FAFSA Submission Summary , they’ll want to review it carefully and make any corrections or updates – such as adding or removing a college they are interested in attending.
It’s also possible that the Department of Education will require the student to correct their FAFSA before it can be processed.
What kinds of corrections are students being asked to make on their FAFSA?
A: Some of the more common corrections are adding a student or parent's signature, checking a box and hitting submit, or giving consent and approval for the Department of Education to pull income data from the Internal Revenue Service. Even if a student or a student’s parents didn’t file taxes, they’ll still need to give that consent and approval for their FAFSA to be processed.
Another correction that students are being asked to make is to a question on the FAFSA about whether they want to apply for an Unsubsidized Student Loan only. If a student answered yes to that question, they would not be considered for any federal need-based aid or be asked to provide any parent information. For the most part, the only reason a student should answer yes to that question is if they don’t want to ask their parents to contribute information to their FAFSA and have no unusual circumstances preventing them from contacting their parents.
Based on the number of students who answered yes to the question, the Department of Education thinks that some of those “yes” answers were mistakes, so they are asking students to reconsider their answers.
Should students be worried if they haven’t received a financial aid offer yet?
A: No, according to the latest data, only about 30 percent of colleges have issued financial aid offers. However, I can understand why students are concerned, particularly if they are trying to decide between two different colleges. Fortunately, many colleges have moved their decision dates, giving students more time to consider what college they want to attend. Many institutions in North Carolina have moved their decision dates to May 15.
If a student hasn’t received an offer from a school, they can contact the college's financial aid office to ensure they have their FAFSA information and to determine if the college has sent out offers yet. However, colleges may be very busy right now, so I encourage students to be patient when seeking answers from financial aid offices.
Is it too late to complete the FAFSA?
A: No, it’s not too late. I encourage anyone who’s considering some postsecondary education to complete the FAFSA. The FAFSA doesn’t commit the student to anything, and it’s the only way to find out what type of financial aid you could receive.
