"A technical problem with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, has resulted in inaccurate estimates of some applicants’ aid eligibility, the U.S. Department of Education announced on Friday. The latest snag in a series of complications with the new form will require the department to reprocess and resend about 200,000 aid applications to colleges this spring, probably delaying when those students will receive financial-aid offers," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

... "Justin Draeger, president and chief executive of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, described the miscalculation as 'another unforced error' that would probably prolong some students’ wait for aid offers. 'At this stage in the game and after so many delays,' he said in a written statement, 'every error adds up and will be felt acutely by every student who is counting on need-based financial aid to make their postsecondary dreams a reality.'"

"The department said it had delivered more than 1.3 million ISIRs that were not affected by the miscalculation. Its announcement instructs colleges to process those records as usual. As an “interim fix” for the miscalculation, the department said, colleges can 'recalculate the SAI to develop a tentative aid package for an affected student without waiting to receive a reprocessed ISIR.'"

"But Draeger pushed back against that suggestion. Though colleges will continue to work in good faith with the federal government, he said in his statement, institutions 'can only work with valid and correct data that is provided to them from the U.S. Department of Education. It is not feasible or realistic to send out incorrect FAFSA data and ask thousands of schools to make real-time calculations and adjustments to the federal formula on the school side.'"

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: 3/22/2024