- FAFSA opened in late December, instead of October, delaying many financial aid packages.
To make FAFSA less extensive, the form was shortened, but due to the changing of the form and dates, students and families are being impacted.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
Financial aid is often one of the biggest parts of being able to attend college. Millions of students apply for FAFSA every year, but due to some recent changes, there's been a delay in financial aid packages.
“We've been going through the FAFSA simplification process on a federal level,” says Jeremiah Shinn Vice President of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management at Boise State University.
To receive federal aid you must fill out a FAFSA form. In the past, the form would be extremely extensive and intricate. Now, Jeremiah Shinn with Boise State University tells me the process is more simple.
Jeremiah says, “The point of it was to make the forum shorter and less time-intensive for students and families to complete. Now what that did is it delayed the launch of the application.”
Usually, FAFSA applications would roll out in October, but in 2023, they were pushed back to late December causing many to still be waiting on financial aid packages.
Shinn says, "This provided students and families less time to complete it and also delayed the processing of it for institutions and so the effect [is] aid packages are rolling out a little later than normal.”
The delay is causing thousands of students to wait, potentially impacting incoming freshmen.
“The delay in aid packages is rightly stressful for students but I think it's important for students and families to know everybody is in the same situation. The delay has affected everyone and certainly, all institutions are in the same place as well,” says Shinn.
Due to the delay in rolling out the new FAFSA forms, some students might not be able to get their information to colleges until March or April. Meaning they have to make a quick decision on where they want to commit to.
