LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Due to high costs, attending a university requires extensive financial planning and budgeting. The first step to receiving any form of financial aid is for hopeful college students to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or the FAFSA.
This form determines how much financial assistance students can receive from the federal government. States and universities also use the FAFSA, working their own financial aid packages for each student based on initial FAFSA numbers.
In an attempt to simplify the process, the U.S. Department of Education overhauled the FAFSA, lessening the number of questions and streamlining the process. However, these changes delayed the release of the form.
“It definitely has its challenges, said Brooke Whitaker, assistant director of financial aid at Midway University, “but I think the challenges are going to be worthwhile once the process is complete.”
The uncompleted process led to multiple issues, both for families filling out the form and for schools awaiting the FAFSA data.
The FAFSA usually appears in October, at the start of the academic year. However, due to updates and technological issues, the form was not effectively released until January.
A chain reaction resulted. The delayed release meant delayed form-fillers. Now, institutions still await the arrival of the delayed data. Transylvania University’s vice president for institutional effectiveness, Rhyan Conyers, laid out the process.
“This year, rather than learning how much colleges are going to cost in maybe December or January, it’s been pushed back because of the delays to more like, probably April or so. And so, people are already anxious about it during normal times, but with the delays, they are feeling that anxiety even more.”
Institutions have their hands tied because they need to wait for FAFSA information before they can start crafting financial aid packages to fill in the gaps for their students.
“Until we get those data files from the Department of Education,” Conyers said, “colleges are kind of stuck.”
Transylvania came up with a temporary solution.
“One of the key responses we have made is to offer financial aid estimates to families,” Conyers said. “We’re using these estimates to give families at least a glimpse to see how much Transy education may cost them.”
Though the wait continues, both Conyers and Whitaker felt that the new FAFSA promises a better future once the bugs work out.
