FAFSA frustration continues into fall semester

TYLER, Texas ( KETK ) – As college students head back to class, the US Department of Education announced in Aug. a second delay for FAFSA applications for the 2025-2026 year.

This comes as many students are still dealing with changes that were supposed to make the process easier. Through the spring and summer, students and parents experienced issues and confusing questions with the new FAFSA application.

This has caused many college students to still not be granted federal aid as they start the fall semester.

“We now have about 76 students right now that are sort of in that reject status on the FAFSA that we’re working with them to get those resolved,” said David Barron, vice president of enrollment management of UT Tyler.

UT Tyler said they will not drop students who are still waiting for their application to go through, if they are still putting in effort to input the new information. One of the new changes to the application this year requires parents to input their social security number for proof of residency.

“My mom came here illegally and wasn’t able to get a Social Security number and we had to prove her residency, but when we sent over the information, they kept saying it was wrong or missing things,” Jason Quintanilla, freshman, said.

Quintanilla had to move out of his mom’s at 18 and is no longer a dependent. This decision was supposed to help Quintanilla qualify for financial aid.

“It was a very hard decision because my mom didn’t want me to go. I didn’t want to go, but I felt like if I didn’t move out, I wasn’t going to be able to actually go to college and I wanted to go to college, so I had to make that decision,” Quintanilla said.

Barron said the school has not had a dip in enrollment caused by the changes and delays, but months later are still seeing the effects students are experiencing.

“We also have folks that haven’t applied yet or had some issues applying because the parents had to get a separate ID, where in the past they didn’t have to do that and so it’s just some delay, I think, in the folks applying for aid,” Barron said.

After leaving his home, Quintanilla is relieved that he is now financially stable, but wishes the process was simpler.

“I wish they didn’t have to change it, but I think it’ll get better as time goes on,” Quintanilla said.

The financial aid is supposed to start Dec. 1 instead of the previously anticipated Oct. 1.

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