"When George Washington University student Gabriela Peña filled out her Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, in March 2024, she was not expecting to receive a decrease in her financial aid package months later," The WASH reports.

..."Additionally, the Department of Education, per Emrey-Arras’s testimony, was 161 days late in processing FAFSA forms, 197 days late in providing students with the ability to make corrections to their forms, and 305 days late in processing paper FAFSA forms. Batch corrections towards FAFSA submissions have yet to be made by colleges, resulting in a delay of more than a year.

'Seeing some of those statistics, such as the 75% of the calls going unanswered, that was news to me,' said Sarah Austin, a policy analyst for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, in an interview. 'We have heard from members that students aren’t able to get help on the phone. Students aren’t able to actually even talk to a person. They’re getting hung up on.'"

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: 10/29/2024