FAFSA forms creating issues for students, parents, and schools

What was billed as an easier form to fill out has turned worlds upside down for universities, parents, and students.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is a form completed by current and prospective college students — undergraduate and graduate — in the United States to determine eligibility for student financial aid.

The FAFSA rolled out in December, which was delayed from the usual opening in October.

Gina Roberts, assistant vice president of enrollment management at the University of Toledo, said the FAFSA late rollout and subsequent issues have made the process more difficult for students and schools.

“The impact has been felt across the country,” Ms. Roberts said. “It has been a sizable challenge, but the processing of the applications does seem to be getting better. What was supposed to be a shorter and much simpler form to fill out did come true. The glitches, though, made the simple more difficult.”

In 2020, Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act, which aimed to reduce the number of questions on the application and make Pell Grants and other federal aid more accessible.

Students can now list up to 20 schools, not just 10, on their digital application. Most importantly, everyone now needs an FSA ID to complete the FAFSA application.

But glitches in the system caused errors in calculations, which meant the U.S. Department of Education had to reprocess applications, resulting in delays in award letters, Ms. Roberts said.

“Early on, we adjusted our Priority Deposit Deadline to June 1 instead of May 1,” she said. “If students meet the priority deadline, that means their applications for financial aid get the ‘first look’ when it comes to awarding limited funds. This year, that was out the window and we moved the date.”

Cecilia Castellano, vice president for enrollment management at Bowling Green State University, said this year dealing with FAFSA has been challenging with the delays and the mistakes.

“In January, we were informed by the Department of Education there were outages in the system causing issues with applying for FAFSA,” Ms. Castellano said. “We started getting some of the FAFSA information from the Department of Education in March. Right after that, we were informed there were several data errors.”

Ms. Castellano said BGSU has made changes to some of the due dates for the fall semester.

“Since the beginning, BGSU has been committed to communicating with the students and families concerning the current issues with the FAFSA forms,” Ms. Castellano said. “We also have been flexible. We changed our commitment date from May 1 to May 15. If a student commits by that date, they get to choose their room and pay their deposit.”

Callie Zake, director of undergraduate admissions and financial aid at Lourdes University, said the number of questions on the form did drop from 108 to 36. The number of filings for the FAFSA also dropped by 23 percent.

“According to the National College Attainment Network, FAFSA fillings in Ohio are down 28.6 percent from last year,” Ms. Zake said. “In Lucas County, that number is down 31.7 percent. There is some fear out there concerning filing and the reported delays. The 18-year-olds are terrified of long government forms.”

Marcos Gomez, director of student services at Owens Community College, said the delay in the opening of the FAFSA this year, coupled with “glitches,” has not helped colleges or students.

“I would say it has been an interesting year,” Mr. Gomez said. “There were a lot of issues in the beginning. People could not get on the site, or they were being booted off at times. In January, more people were finally able to access the FAFSA site.”

Other issues he has heard of are parents having a problem inputting information on the site to get a FSA ID, which is needed to apply for financial aid.

“It seems like there has been progress made with many of the issues people were having, but not all of the issues have been resolved,” Mr. Gomez said. “There is a lot of frustration and confusion out there. We have offered support hours daily to those wishing to attend Owens.”

Bob Savage, executive director, and Michelle Bissell, senior program manager, of Toledo Tomorrow, said the organization is a nonprofit college and career access partner.

“We help students learn about the opportunities out there to help them afford going to a four-year college or a community college,” Ms. Bissell said. “We help students complete applications to college and for the FAFSA.”

Mr. Savage said this year, applying for FAFSA has been a challenge.

“It has not been fun because there have been many glitches this year,” Mr. Savage said. “It is generally not this horrendous to apply for FAFSA. But the students need a FSA ID and to fill out the form in order to get many scholarships and to know what college will cost them.”

Ms. Zake said students from low-income families will feel the impact of the lower FAFSA filings the most.

“We believe we are seeing many students self-selecting out of applying for the FAFSA,” she said. “This really is a huge, frustrating concern, and it may have a terrifying impact on low-income students.”

Not having the FAFSA information is also affecting how many students are committing to universities and colleges, Ms. Zake said.

“We were able to pull FAFSA information the week before Easter, which allowed us to be able to send out 340 award letters to students,” Ms. Zake said. “There are many schools that are not able to send award letters yet, so students are not able to do comparisons between schools they applied to.”

Ms. Zake said that between 87 percent and 90 percent of students in Lourdes file for financial aid. The university has seen an impact in the number of students who have signed up for fall classes.

“More students would have been signed up for fall at this time,” she said. “But, we are a smaller school and we are not tied to a May deadline. Larger schools are having more issues.”

Mr. Gomez said right now Owens is on pace to have campus enrollment remain stable this fall.

“We are good because we are an open enrollment institution,” he said. “We do not have a hard and fast deadline to enroll. We have seen a cool-off in the summer enrollment because of the delay in FAFSA award information. Some larger schools have some hard admission deadlines, so there may be more of an impact on enrollment with them.”

Although some scholarships are awarded based on FAFSA information, Mr. Gomez said Owens has other scholarships that are not tied to that, including Board of Trustee Scholarships.

“The FAFSA issues do have a trickle-down effect,” he said. “We have been implementing changes on a day-to-day basis. It certainly has required more daily attention from us, but we have ways to help students.”

Mr. Gomez advises parents not to wait to get the FAFSA forms filled out.

“Students and parents waiting to file the FAFSA applications are making a mistake,” he said. “Many of us in financial aid offices are aware of the issues, and we are here and equipped to help. In the meantime, make the best use of your time and apply for every scholarship you can as well.”

UT’s Rocket Solution Central, billed as a one-stop shop for billing, financial aid, and registration, has been extremely busy this year, Ms. Roberts said.

“We had additional outreach to students,” she said. “We set up appointments, both in person and online, to help students fill out the FAFSA forms. We are being as flexible as possible to help.”

Ms. Roberts said it is still too early to determine whether the FAFSA issues will result in a drop in fall enrollment.

“We know some students have held off applying for FAFSA because of all of the press amplifying the glitches,” she said. “So many things were out of place, and the anxiety levels grew. Students just need to know that it is not too late to file for FAFSA. The form is open throughout the school year, but, they really should not wait to file if possible. Just know that the FAFSA issues are out of their and our control. We are all just making the best out of a bad situation.”

Nicole Losek, the mother of soon-to-be Rocket Austin Losek, said filling out the FAFSA forms online went pretty smoothly.

“We were told by financial aid at UT that the form should take about 10 minutes to fill out,” Ms. Losek said. “We had heard stories from others that it took a long time, but it went smoothly for us.”

Ms. Losek said they have not received anything back yet. Her son will major in political science and hopes to attend UT’s law school in a few years.

“We have to wait for the FAFSA letter to schedule Austin’s orientation on campus,” she said. “I would tell parents that if they have issues, they need to get with the financial aid department at their school. We did get a lot of help from UT, and it made the process easier.”

Ms. Castellano said the Department of Education has since reprocessed the files that had errors. She said they are anxiously awaiting the correct information to give to students and their parents so they can plan for the fall.

“Parents and students need to have the financial information in order to be able to plan for the costs,” she said. “For those who have not applied or committed to BGSU, it is not too late. You can still enroll; you can still visit and apply.”

Toledo Tomorrow works with seven area school districts, including Toledo Public and Washington Local, to help students file for everything they can to make college affordable and, sometimes, free.

“College costs are a huge barrier for disadvantaged students,” Mr. Savage said. “Without some aid to help, it makes going to college hard to impossible for many students.”

Mr. Savage said Toledo Tomorrow works with approximately 1,300 students per year. The organization is willing to help any student gain access to higher education.

“I tell students that the time it takes to fill out the application will actually be the best-paying job they will most likely have in their lives,” Mr. Savage said. “There are hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships out there. There really is no reason not to file the FAFSA. And, no, you will not be called for jury duty because you filled out the form.”

Ms. Bissell said she likes to remind students that the Pell Grant alone is worth $7,000.

“The FAFSA is an important part of making college affordable,” she said. “Students and parents should not be afraid to fill it out. Get all of the help you can to go to school.”

Mr. Savage said students also need to know the FAFSA needs to be filled out yearly.

“It is not a one-and-done situation,” he said. “Also, parents can also attend a community college for free by filling out the FAFSA. The Pell Grant covers community college as well. Every member of the household can apply.”