"Up to 16 percent of the 7 million Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) forms submitted so far include student errors and require corrections, the Education Department announced last Wednesday—far more than usual," Inside Higher Ed reports. 

..."Student errors aren’t the only mistakes gumming up the works. The past few weeks have also brought to light several calculation errors from the department, meaning nearly 20 percent of all Institutional Student Information Records, or ISIRs, will need to be reprocessed before accurate aid information can be sent to students.

Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said that together, the student corrections and department-level miscalculations have made an already challenging financial aid year far more complicated.

'They all kind of get added together into the category of ‘problem FAFSAs’ that we cannot issue an aid offer for,' she said. 'Most years, the vast majority of ISIRs come in clear, they don’t need more work … This year, the ISIRs are coming back funkier, and so the process is more time-intensive. And that’s time we just don’t have.'"

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: 4/15/2024