HUDSON, Ohio — Another inconvenience has popped up in the rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form.
The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday that it will not send FAFSA applicant information to schools until the first half of March, instead of late January as previously stated. Higher education institutions use the information from the FAFSA to determine financial aid packages.
“It's very late for them to be able to get that information to the colleges in order for families to have an ample amount of time to be able to make college decisions, and also for the people in higher education, on the college side, to be able to make financial aid award letters that our accurate,” says Kristina Dooley, the founder and president of the college planning firm Estrela Consulting.
In years past, applicants have been able to access the FAFSA form on Oct. 1. However, it did not go live until Dec. 30 for the 2024-25 award year due to the federal government revising the form to make it easier to compete.
"A lot of people working in higher education and school counselors, independent counselors like myself, I think we all anticipated that this would be a very bumpy rollout of the new FAFSA,” Dooley explained. "I think it's worse than any of us anticipated."
Due to inflation, the Education Department adjusted the calculation to determine how much a family can afford to pay for college.
"Because this year they're changing the formula, we really don't have the ability to anticipate the kind of impact the data is going to have," Steve McKellips, vice provost for enrollment management at the University of Akron, said.
In the past, McKellips says schools could estimate the amount of aid they could offer students with a small margin of error. However, with the new formula used in the Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation, institutions must wait to start the process.
"The biggest challenge for schools across the country is going to be the inability to get the information to families any earlier than probably mid to late March, and in some cases maybe even early April."
May 1 is typically the deadline for students to choose which college they will attend and make an enrollment deposit. In an article posted to Kent State University's website, Director of University Scholarships and Financial Aid Sylvia Bustard is quoted as saying "the delays are most problematic for incoming students who may be waiting on their financial aid offers from several universities before deciding where they will attend."
According to the article, Kent State has extended its FAFSA filing deadline to March 1 for incoming students. There are now calls for colleges and universities to extend the May 1 confirmation deadline.
" think colleges will have to move back their deadlines for enrollment deposits," Dooley pointed out. “We have to give families the opportunity to again really thoughtfully look at their options, and we also have to give the colleges the time to accurately put together those financial aid award letters. They can't rush through it."
Related stories: