The new FAFSA form has been plagued with technical glitches, formula errors and delays that have made it difficult for students to figure out how much money they will receive to help pay for college.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona says it is all hands on deck as they continue to troubleshoot problems with the revamped FAFSA form.
“We’ve devoted $50 million in technical assistance to help these students process and get the information they need,” explained Cardona. “We recognize that there are some glitches for those students. We recognize there are some issues where students can not submit and we’re working to rectify those situations so they can submit.”
Due to the delays, some students won’t see financial aid offers until mid-April – just two weeks before the standard May 1 decision date. Many schools are now pushing that deadline back to June 1 -- including most of the state universities in Massachusetts.
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The UMass Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell campuses have extended their deposit deadlines to June 1st.
A university spokesperson tells us “Amherst is closely monitoring the situation – including the DOE schedule for releasing financial aid data and the plans of other large public and private universities -- to determine whether any adjustment in their deadline will be necessary.”
Fitchburg State and Framingham State also pushed back their deadlines to June 1.
Framingham said they will be flexible with that date – and with so many unknowns, they want students to make informed decisions and assure they understand what it will cost them to attend next year.
Harvard posted a message on their website, saying the May 1 deadline may be extended under exceptional circumstances, advising students to contact the financial aid office if they are waiting for financial aid awards from other schools to make a decision.
Cardona said his department is communicating regularly with colleges.
“We've been talking to colleges and they're saying, ‘you know, it would be helpful if you could reduce some of the burdens of reporting that we have had historically.’ And we recognize that that's a very valid, request.”
To help streamline the millions of federal aid applications, Cardona said the department is reducing verification requirements and suspending routine school compliance reviews until June. They’ll also make it more flexible for some colleges to recertify eligibility to participate in federal student aid programs.
A group of more than 100 democratic lawmakers – including Sen. Ed Markey and Sen. Elizabeth Warren – wrote a letter to Cardona last week, asking him to clarify how the department plans to communicate any further delays – and how it will minimize the potential impact on students and their families.
“We have Plan B, Plan C. We're focusing on Plan A with tons of new resources,” said Cardona. “This system hasn’t been touched in over 40 years. We’re fixing it, we’re making it better. And this first year of implementation the timeline is a little bit different than it has been in the past, but more students will have access to aid and we’re proud about that.”
In the first three weeks of rolling out the new FAFSA form, Cardona tells us there were a million applicants a week who successfully submitted the form in under 15 minutes.
Students are being urged to apply for aid as soon as possible. Applicants are also being asked to reach out to a school’s financial aid office for any assistance.
Some other New England schools that are monitoring the situation closely:
The University of Connecticut tells us they are not planning to move their May 1 deadline for admitted students.
In an email sent to applicants, the University of New Hampshire said they “will be extending our first-year application deadline until the timing of financial aid is finalized.”
The University of Rhode Island has removed its priority FAFSA filing date, which was formerly March 1. A URI spokesperson tells us, “URI has not made a decision to change its first-year enrollment deposit due date of May 1.”
Brown University moved the FAFSA deadline for domestic undergraduate students from to March 1. A spokesperson said, “Even that is a priority deadline — meaning that if the FAFSA is submitted beyond this date, no penalties will be assessed, nor will a student’s aid be reduced as a result of a later application.”
Rhode Island College will extend the deadline for new student deposits from May 1 to June 1.
