CLEVELAND — It's a new era for federal student aid, although it's not exactly going off without a hitch.
What was supposed to be the improved Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as FAFSA, launched over the weekend. However, applicants trying to access the revamped form are running into glitches and other problems.
"My son got stuck on creating an account," Stacia Brooks, a mother of two living in Green, said. "The site won't let him go past contact info and mailing address."
Brooks isn't alone — Nancy Dunn, a manager in the advising programs and services for College Now Greater Cleveland, also experienced delays when trying to complete the form.
“On Dec. 31, [the website] was in maintenance stage pretty much all day," Dunn told us. "Fun and exciting way to celebrate New Years — watching the New Year's show on TV while looking at my phone seeing that it was still in maintenance stage."
Dunn, the mother of a first-year college student, was able to successfully complete the form this past Tuesday.
"It did take us about 30 minutes to complete the form, but we also had to wait in … an online waiting room for about 30 minutes as well," she noted.
The 2024-25 FAFSA form is currently in the soft launch phase, meaning the U.S. Department of Education will pause the site periodically to make changes to the user experience. During the pause, people will not be able to access the site.
"Glitches may happen," Dunn, who has been helping families complete the FAFSA form since 2016, admitted. "Patience — that's going to be key this year."
Some 17 million students file the FAFSA form each year, which typically opens Oct. 1. The launch for the 2024-25 award year was delayed until late December 2023 due to the DOE revamping the form to make it easier to complete.
"The most common glitch I've heard at the moment is that families click the signature button and think that it's been signed, but then they get an email saying that it wasn't signed," Dunn explained.
She believes the soft launch period will last a couple of weeks.
"The more opportunities that FSA (Federal Student Aid) has to work the bugs out of the system, the better the logging in experience will be for families."
According to the Department of Education, the changes to the form will help 610,000 students from low-income backgrounds receive federal Pell Grants for the first time. An additional 1.5 million students will receive a maximum Pell Grant, which was $7,395 for the 2023-2024 award year. The maximum award for 2024-2025 has not yet been announced.
In Ohio, the increase in the number of Pell recipients is expected to be 22,567, with 45,927 more students receiving the maximum award. In most cases, those grants do not need to be repaid.
The FSA office recommends completing the form later in January or in February. Full processing of FAFSA forms will not start until late January.
"This is a time to be patient," Dunn says. "The colleges will get that information. Families will have the opportunity to log in, so if you are experiencing login delays, just wait a day or two, try again."
College Now Greater Cleveland is holding free FAFSA workshops throughout January and February to assist people trying to complete the 2024-25 form. Click here for more information.