The rollout of this year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) has been marred by delays and technical difficulties, causing confusion and problems for incoming freshmen and transfer students. There’s still time to ensure these errors don’t have severe consequences, but four-year universities and the federal government must act.
Although the application is typically released in late October, this year’s FAFSA wasn’t available until January, due to a revamp of the system, with changes including the elimination of many of the old FAFSA questions. The shorter list of questions and other aspects of the new FAFSA aim to make the financial aid process simpler, which U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has called “transformational.”
Although the new FAFSA is more streamlined, the delay of its release until January means that students won’t know their estimated financial aid until much later in 2024 than in previous years. This hurts any students who are attending a new institution, such as those going to Pierce after graduating high school or transferring from Pierce to a four-year university.
The delay in the FAFSA rollout, along with glitches on the submission platform, have had major negative effects. According to U.S. Department of Education data, the amount of completed FAFSA applications submitted by California students by the start of February this year is down by 57 percent compared to last year.
Because students won’t be able to make financially informed decisions about where to commit to college until later in the year, it is crucial that four-year universities push back their commitment deadlines. The Los Angeles Times reported that the University of California and California State University systems recently announced they were pushing their commitment dates from May 1 to May 15. To support low-income students, or any students who need scholarships, private universities should do the same.
Beyond putting a bandage on the damage already done this year by attempting to fix technical issues as they arise, the U.S. Department of Education should act to make sure this doesn’t happen again next year.
The federal government should focus on technical troubleshooting before releasing next year’s FAFSA, as well as making sure helplines are adequately staffed in the future, because according to the Los Angeles Times, it can currently take days or weeks for students to receive a response.
Pierce will be offering (FAFSA) Financial Aid Workshops on March 2, 16 and 23. Because students deserve better, the federal government should make improvements as well.
