Graduating high school seniors are still waiting to find out how much federal student aid they qualify for. Many schools have a May 1 deadline for students to choose where to party enroll. But things might not be going as planned…
Here’s Five Fast Facts About FAFSA delays:
- 🎓 How Much? - The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) determines a student’s eligibility for Pell Grants, federal student loans, and even the aid provided by colleges. It plays a big role in where students choose to attend college.
- 📚 Day Late - Last year FAFSA was revamped from more than 100 questions to less than 40. Awesome, right? Except it wasn’t available until January, which is three months later than usual. The Department of Education is blaming the problem on system glitches.
- 📓 Deadlines? - The main source of panic is May 1: that’s when applicants need to decide where they’re enrolling. Considering it’s April, that’s a big problem. The American Council of Education reported that 67% of 400 universities surveyed said that’s not enough time to get everything processed.
- 🎒 No Thanks - It’s having a definite impact. The National College Attainment Network notes that 31% fewer high school seniors have submitted FAFSA compared to this time last year. The NCAN is encouraging universities to extend the deadline to June or even July 1.
- 📔 Fast Fix - For its part, the Department of Education said it is deploying staff all across the country with tech support.
🔥Bottom line: Who says technology makes things easier? Hopefully the issue can get fixed fast or universities are going to have an enrollment crisis on their hands.
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