"The Department of Education began sending batches of student aid information to colleges last week, following through on the delayed and highly disruptive FAFSA timeline it laid out in late January," Inside Higher Ed reports.

... "Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said the slow pace has been a common trend among institutional members she’s heard from. That’s in part because the department is sending out ISIRs by applicant rather than by institution, meaning each student’s information goes to all the colleges they applied to instead of each college getting all their applicants’ forms at once."

"'It’s been a batch here, a batch there … we really are in the ramping up stage,' she said. 'The concerning thing is, there’s no clear indicator of when that will end and the processing can start.'"

... "That relief is likely to be short-lived, McCarthy said. Most colleges are doing all they can to prepare, but the most important piece of the puzzle—the ISIRs themselves—has not yet clicked into place, and time is running short."

"'I hate to be a negative Nelly here, but the work doesn’t end when the department sends out ISIRs,' she added. 'That’s when 95 percent of the work starts on the college side.'"

... "Banner, a financial aid information exchange software used by over 1,400 institutions, will be updated and ready for use by March 21, according to multiple financial aid administrators. A spokesperson for Ellucian, Banner’s developer, did not respond to questions. PowerFAIDS, a similar platform provided by the College Board, is facing the same issue caused by the formula whiplash at the end of February, according to several financial aid officers at colleges that use the software. And issues with EdConnect, the education department’s own terminal for student aid information exchange with colleges, has required frequent updates in the past few weeks."

"'There are many schools that have been getting ISIRs but can’t access them,' McCarthy said."

... "McCarthy is concerned that this year may see a higher-than-usual rate of flawed or rejected applications because the form is unfamiliar to families and college-counseling professionals. Even if there isn’t a spike in errors, colleges usually have weeks or even months to field students’ questions and address mistakes; this year they’ll likely get inundated all at once."

"'We don’t know how clean these ISIRs are going to be, how many are going to need reprocessing, things like that,' she said. 'There’s absolutely no wiggle room if that happens.'"

... "Some colleges pushed back their commitment deadlines, which typically fall on May 1, when news of the mid-March delay was first announced, but the predicted wave of extensions never quite crested.

“I’ll be curious to see what colleges do with their May 1 deadlines now that the ISIRs have started coming in,” McCarthy said. “Many were hesitant to go there until they started getting batches.”

NASFAA's "Notable Headlines" section highlights media coverage of financial aid to help members stay up to date with the latest news. Articles included under the notable headlines section are not written by NASFAA, but rather by external sources. Inclusion in Today's News does not imply endorsement of the material or guarantee the accuracy of information presented.

Publication Date: 3/18/2024