"On the first day back to school following winter break, Jennifer Fichamba, a college and career readiness specialist who works with high school students, woke up earlier than usual. The decision wasn’t part of a New Year’s resolution, instead she wanted to see if she could access the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA," MarketWatch reports. 

... "Karen McCarthy, the vice president for public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said overhauling the FAFSA was such a large undertaking that her organization didn’t expect it to go completely smoothly. "

"Still, 'even by soft launch standards, how things went over the weekend was challenging for students and families,' said McCarthy, whose organization represents college financial aid administrators. NASFAA’s members are the people who use the information from the form to calculate financial aid offers. 'We don’t know at this point exactly how many FAFSAs were successfully able to be submitted or for how long the FAFSA was actually open and available for completion.'"

"'I unscientifically checked several times a day,' and was unable to log on, she added, 'but maybe I was hitting the bad times? We are watching it very closely, we are concerned by what we’re hearing.'"

... "For now, experts are advising students and families not to panic. The Department of Education won’t be turning the information gleaned from the initial forms over to colleges and states until late January."

"'In terms of applicants who might be panicking a little bit this week, we absolutely understand the frustration,' McCarthy said. Still, families shouldn’t worry if they can’t submit the form this week, she said."

"'Schools won’t be getting any of these processed FAFSA forms until later this month anyway,' she added. Forms submitted 'next week or even the week after that — all of those processed FAFSAs will be arriving at the institutions at the same time,' she said."

"Some colleges are considering changing their priority financial aid deadlines to account for delays, McCarthy said. Typically, all students who submit their form before this deadline will receive the same consideration for financial aid. Still, if schools extend the deadline for students to submit their information, there will be less time for colleges to evaluate the information and prepare their financial-aid offers. In such a situation, students might end up having less time to review the offers."

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: 1/2/2024