The Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) for many students is the key to their education. For junior Phoenix McClellan, the FAFSA is now a roadblock for her to access vital information allowing her to stay in school.
"As a low-income independent student, I rely on being able to submit an independent student verification … I have been unable to do that due to the government not releasing [that] information," McClellan said.
For many students like McClellan across the country, FAFSA delays could ruin their chances of getting aid or into college at all.
Across academia, these delays have been hurting many institutions’ ability to provide aid packages, guarantee enrollment data and finalize next academic year's budget.
According to Inside Higher Ed, vice president of enrollment and communication at Augustana College, W. Kent Barnds, wrote on his LinkedIn “This will be the latest that I’ve been able to award aid to college-bound students in the 32 years that I have been doing enrollment work.”
Barnds is not alone in this struggle. This issue has drawn congressional attention, forcing Republican lawmakers to request a federal inquiry into the process of federal financial aid, which is drawing attention to the “challenges” and “insufficient information” that students have had to face within the new system.
Jon Fansmith, senior vice president for government relations and national engagement at the American Council on Education, believes there is a problem with the creditability of the Department of Education, according to Inside Higher Ed.
“They keep slipping. Because errors keep being announced. Because people can’t rely on what they’re hearing," Fansmith said.
Citing terrible chat features and long wait times for the department’s assistance line, sophomore Ella Addison said the FAFSA has been “nothing but unnecessary stress” for her and her family. McClellan also mentions that while attempting to reach out to the virtual help desk, she received no assistance on the reason why she was locked out of her FAFSA paperwork for weeks.
Because of these issues and further delays, enrollment numbers are continuing to drop across the board, with the number of FAFSAs completed being about 2.8 million lower than last year, with the high school class of 2024 having a 33% decline in FAFSA completion comparatively.
With over 330,0000 applications containing inconsistent tax information, the Federal Student Aid office of the US Department of Education states 5% of submitted applications for aid need to be reprocessed. This error, just one of several others, contributes to the increasing nationwide dilemma of whether or not students are going to receive financial aid in time for the upcoming deadlines.
Many colleges and universities across the country are pushing back the deadlines for financial aid information and enrollment deposits. Saint Mary’s College took to Instagram to post about an extended deadline, moving the enrollment deposit date to May 15th for the class of 2028. For current students, however, there has been limited information given about how the errors and delays will affect their financial aid packages.
Saint Mary's director of student financial services, Jenna Zwiller, sent a email to the student body inviting students to a FAFSA Clinic on April 10 in order to help students better understand the 2024-2025 FAFSA application process.
