Supporting
families through more FAFSA delays
With the financial aid process so stressful for students and their families, further FAFSA delays only exacerbate this anxiety and uncertainty. It’s essential we communicate to families what to expect from the process going forward, and what actions they can take to be advocates for themselves.
🧭 Here is what we know today.
- The late changes that the Department of Education (ED) is implementing are important because they increase students' financial aid eligibility across the board. Updating the FAFSA to reflect recent inflation protects a greater
portion of both parent and student income from contribution to college, which is a positive for eligibility. Read more below.
- This announcement is new to financial aid offices. Given their experience and profession, they continue adjusting their systems to be able to process financial aid offers as quickly as possible once the FAFSA is sent
out.
- Major organizations in admissions and financial aid, including National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), are asking member colleges to extend their commitment dates past May 1st. We hope colleges will follow this request and change their commitment dates in the coming days.
- ED is tracking known issues on its website and when they're resolved. Colleges know about these issues and want to work with students experiencing these challenges.
☑️ Here are some next steps for students and parents to be most successful.
- If they’ve already submitted the FAFSA without encountering issues, there is no further action to take. The processed FAFSA will be sent to all colleges selected.
- If a student or parent encounters technical issues with the FAFSA, advise them to take a screenshot and contact Federal Student Aid and their colleges'
financial aid offices for support on next steps.
- To reduce the possibility of an issue, have the student start the FAFSA, invite the parent, and sign their form before the parent contributes to the FAFSA. In many cases I’ve supported, this sequence clears problems. If a parent has started the form , there can be the option to delete that FAFSA and start
the form with the student first. I cover this in the 2024-25 FAFSA Video Walkthrough.
- While students receive emails after submission with an estimated Student Aid Index (SAI) and federal aid eligibility, these are only estimates and often incorrect, especially given the formula changes to be implemented. Their SAI will only be final when they receive their FASFA Submission Summary in mid-March.
- If students need to make corrections to the FAFSA or add colleges, they can do so through the FAFSA Submission Summary in mid-March. In the case that students want to add colleges with priority deadlines that are before then, have them reach out to the Financial Aid Office to let them know about this limitation.
- For
students that have a parent contributor without a Social Security Number (SSN), it’s advisable to submit a paper FAFSA this year. Currently, even those parents without an SSN who do create an FSA ID cannot contribute to the online FAFSA. This is a known issue posted by the ED without a timeline for resolution.
Paper FAFSA in English
Paper FAFSA in Spanish - Encourage students check application portals in the coming days for updates on commitment deadlines. Colleges may take time to make an official announcement on an extension, so be patient.
We'll be discussing much more during the upcoming Counselor Coffee Breaks on February 14th and 16th.
Join the conversation.
