Another FAFSA delay adds headaches to college decision process

WORCESTER — Complications with the new financial aid application process have continued to make the challenging choice of where to attend college an even more difficult task for prospective students.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, is a government form that is used by college students to apply for federal student financial aid. It also provides access to vital funding resources for higher education, such as Pell Grants , work-study programs and federal student loans. Around 71% of all college families fill out a FAFSA application.

In recent years, the FAFSA application has been altered with the intent of providing a simpler process for the applicant, but that process has been filled with glitches and bugs that have caused a delay in reporting financial aid rewards back to students. Last year, the application was not available until December, which led to a decrease in participation, with only approximately 50% of students being able to fill out the FAFSA application.

Last month, the office of Federal Student Aid announced that FAFSA applications for the 2025-26 school year will not be available to the general public until Dec. 1, about two months later than usual. A limited number of students and universities will have access to FAFSA applications starting in October, which will serve as trial runs to deal with any problems before the system is opened up to the public.

"We've heard from students, families, higher education professionals and other stakeholders loud and clear: They want a better, simpler FAFSA process, and they want to know when they can reliably expect it," Jeremy Singer, FAFSA executive adviser in the office of Federal Student Aid, said in a press release announcing the changes. "In close collaboration with partners, FSA is confident we will deliver not only a better product, but also a smoother process than last year. One that makes higher education more accessible and within reach for more Americans."

Delay makes college decisions more difficult

High school guidance counselors described the situation with the FAFSA rollout last year as full of delays and other issues that prevented students from getting the accurate information they needed.

"It wasn't until February when it even came out, and when it came out, all sorts of issues arose," Travis Sullivan, school counseling director for North High School in Worcester, said. "The website would crash, communication was pretty much nonexistent if you tried to get a hold of somebody on the phone to try and troubleshoot issues. Even when they linked their accounts between their parents' IRS forms and (FAFSA), you had to quadruple-check to make sure it went through."

Whitney Goodwin, school counseling director at Worcester Technical High School, said that when the new process actually worked, it was extremely simple and efficient, with students being able to fill out a FAFSA application in as little as 10 minutes, but those instances were rare.

"It got to the point where it was easier for some students to actually print out the 30-page application and fill it out manually, and then mail it. I had to teach some students how to properly fill out an envelope," Goodwin said.

The extended delays slowed down the college-decision process for many students. Sullivan said some students were still waiting to hear back from FAFSA when it came time to put a deposit down with a college where they had been accepted.

"For certain students, they had been accepted to a school or into a program that they were really excited about, but they were being asked to put a deposit down, which could be as much as $500, to hold their spot in the program, and in some cases they hadn't gotten their FAFSA information back, so they didn't know exactly how much financial aid they were going to get, or if it was even affordable for them to attend the school," Sullivan said.

Worcester State sees benefits from affordability

According to Ryan Forsythe, vice president of enrollment management at Worcester State University, the uncertainty on federal financial aid has led to an increase in popularity at the state university. With one of the lowest sticker prices in the state , Worcester State saw an uptick in student applications over the last year.

Forsythe said Worcester State received more FAFSA applications for fall 2024 than for fall 2023 (6,824 for 2024, 6,714 for 2023) and overall it received the highest number of student applications in its history.

"The value students receive with a high-quality, low-cost education encourages many students to consider WSU.  During the uncertain financial aid times, this assured students that they could invest in themselves with a college education, without breaking the bank," Forsythe said.

Forsythe said that when discussing financial aid with potential students, the college tried to provide estimates to families on what kind of aid a student could expect, to provide at least a ballpark figure before a delayed FAFSA application might be processed.

"During last year’s difficult rollout of the FAFSA at the federal level, WSU provided students with estimated financial aid awards prior to their FAFSA information being available.  This was done to provide families with as much information as possible to make informed decisions," Forsythe said.

At the College of the Holy Cross, 65% of all students receive some form of federal aid. Financial Aid Office Director Nicole Cunningham said that for the current school year, the college received more federal aid applicants than the previous year, in part because the college requires all applicants to fill out an alternative application in addition to FAFSA, a CSS Profile that connects students with nonfederal aid, which can allow students to get a better idea of their financial state heading into college even if they haven't heard back from FAFSA yet.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Another FAFSA delay adds headaches to college decision process