"The botched launch of the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) may lead to a precipitous drop in college enrollments for the upcoming school year that could surpass those reported following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to higher education experts and advocates," Best Colleges reports.

..."Jill Desjean, senior policy analyst at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, told BestColleges that this will still require ED to address ongoing issues.

One remaining issue, she said, is the need to reprocess 20% of FAFSAs.

ED originally was going to let some FAFSAs remain with errors if those errors would give students access to more financial aid. Desjean said that many financial aid administrators worried, however, that doing so would draw ire from accrediting agencies and other oversight groups who would question why schools were improperly awarding taxpayer funds to students.

'We're constantly being told by the department that we need to make sure that the right amounts of money get into the right students' hands,' she said.

ED later reversed its stance and decided to reprocess all FAFSAs with errors.

Desjean added that it'll be important to push students to submit their FAFSA through the summer. The reality is, however, that many graduating high school seniors will lose access to their school's guidance counselors once they receive their diploma.

'We're squeezing so much work into a short time frame,' she said."

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: 4/16/2024