Some students are still struggling to access college aid amid ongoing FAFSA ‘disaster’

As

enrollment
deadlines
approach,
fewer
students
have
figured
out
how
they
will
afford

college
next
year.

Ongoing
problems
with
the
new Free
Application
for
Federal
Student
Aid have
delayed
financial
aid
award
letters
and
even

prevented
many
high
school
seniors
and
their
families
from
applying
for
aid
at
all.

As
of
the
latest
update,
roughly
7.3
million
2024-25
FAFSA
applications
have
been
submitted
and
sent
to
schools,
according
to
the
U.S.
Department
of
Education,
less
than
half
of
the
more
than
17
million
students
who
use
the
FAFSA
in
ordinary
years.

At
the
current
rate,
the
number
of
FAFSAs
submitted
by
the
end
of
August
will
be
about
2.6
million
fewer
than
the
same
time
last
year,
a
decrease
of
18%,
according
to
higher
education
expert Mark
Kantrowitz.

“This
is
a
complete
disaster,”
he
said.

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Still,
it’s
too
soon
to
say
whether
those
remaining
students
will
ultimately
apply
for
aid
and
how
that
could
impact
their
decisions
about
college
in
the
fall,
according
to
Sandy
Baum,
senior
fellow
at
Urban
Institute’s
Center
on
Education
Data
and
Policy.

“The
question
is
really, ‘What
is
the
long-term
impact?’
We
just
don’t
know
yet,”
she
said.

Many
institutions
are
now
issuing
aid
with
the
information
they
have
on
hand,
according
to
the
Department
of
Education.

“Students
should
know
that
they
are
not
going
through
this
alone,
we
will
remain
in
regular
communication
with
schools
and
students
and
encourage
students
to
stay
in
touch
with
us
and
with
their
colleges,”
an
Education
Department
spokesperson
said.

Ramon Montejo
García,
a
17-year-old
senior
at
the
KIPP
Northeast
Denver
Leadership
Academy
in
Colorado,
has
been
accepted
to
his
first-choice
school,

Wheaton
College
in
Massachusetts. 

But
with
a

sticker
price
of
nearly
$80,000
per
year,
including
tuition,
fees,
and
room
and
board,
Montejo
García,
like
many
college
hopefuls,
will
need

financial
aid
to
bring
the
cost
down.
However,
he
hasn’t
submitted
a
FASFA
yet,
which
serves
as the
gateway to
all
federal
aid
money,
including
loans,
work-study
opportunities
and
grants.

One
issue
with
the
new
form
specifically
concerned
parents
without
a
Social
Security
number.
Although
Montejo
García’s
parents
have
lived
in
the
U.S.
since
2001,
they
are
both
undocumented.
(The
U.S.
Department
of
Education
said
this
issue

has
been
resolved.)

Without
aid,
Montejo
Garcia
said
he
will
likely
attend
an
in-state
school
but
added
that “it’s
been
really
emotional.”

“How
will
this
work
out?
I
don’t
have
a
lot
of
time,”
he
said.

Other
students
may
default
to
their
local
public
college
as
well,
according
to
Charles
Welch,
president
and
CEO
of
the
American
Association
of
State
Colleges
and
Universities.

“So
many
of
our
students
are
more
likely
to
attend
an
institution
that
is
close
by,”
he
said. “For
many
of
our
students
it’s
less
about
comparing
offers
and
more
about, ‘Can
I
go
at
all?'”

As
of
April
5,
only
28%
of
the
high
school
class
of
2024
has
completed
the
FAFSA,
according
to
the
National
College
Attainment
Network,
a
38%
decline
compared
with
a
year
ago.

Of
all
the
financial
aid
opportunities
the
FAFSA
opens
up,
grants
are
the
most
desirable
kind
of
assistance
because
they
typically
do
not
need
to
be
repaid.

Under
the
new
aid
formula,
an
additional
2.1
million
students
should
be
eligible
for
the
maximum
Pell
Grant,
according
to
the
Department
of
Education.

However,
given
the
slower
pace
of
FAFSA
applications
being
submitted, “the
number
of
Pell
Grant
recipients
will
be
about
the
same
as
last
year,
despite
the
new
Pell
Grant
formula
making
it
easier
for
students
to
qualify,”
Kantrowitz
said.

Submitting
a
FAFSA
is
one
of
the
best
predictors
of
whether
a
high
school
senior
will
go
to
college,
the
National
College
Attainment
Network
found.
Seniors
who
complete
the
FAFSA
are 84%
more
likely to
immediately
enroll
in
college. 

However,
in
the
past,
many
families
mistakenly
assumed
they wouldn’t
qualify for
financial
aid
and
didn’t
even
bother
to
apply.
Others
said
a
lengthy
and
overly
complicated
application
was
a
major
hurdle.
Some
said
they
just
didn’t
have
enough
information
about
it.

In
ordinary
years,
high
school
graduates
were
already
missing
out
on
billions
of
dollars’
worth
of
federal
grants
because
they
didn’t
fill
out
the
FAFSA,
experts
say.

“We
really
want
to
think
about
the
students
considering
forgoing
the
process
altogether,”
said
Ellie Bruecker,
interim
director
of
research
at The
Institute
for
College
Access
and
Success.

The
goal
of
FAFSA
simplification
was
to
improve
college
access,
she
added. “The
number
of
students
left
out
of
the
college
pipeline
is
huge.”

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