Around this time every year, high school seniors aiming to attend college typically celebrate their choices, research dorms, and think about their majors. That's not necessarily the case this year.
After a new application for federal tuition aid ended in disaster, many still don't know how much tuition they'll end up paying and haven't decided where to go.
The Department of Education's redesigned Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is intended to make applying for financial aid easier and more accessible. But faced with bureaucratic chaos caused by a technological meltdown and significant delays in processing information and receiving aid packages, students say the new system was never clear or streamlined.
The first signs of trouble began in December when the forms were released, and have since spread cascadingly, causing anxiety for students as they neared graduation.
“It was a nightmare from point A to point B,” said Rayna Atkinson, a 17-year-old from Michigan who finally decided to attend Michigan State University after waiting several months.
The FAFSA is the free, standard application for federal aid for college tuition that millions of people rely on. Students fill out her single form with details about their background and household income to request tuition information for the schools listed.
Prior to the review, applicants typically received their financial aid packages within 72 hours of applying. But this year, the Ministry of Education has had to reprocess more than 500,000 applications, and students have been waiting for two to three months, and the numbers are growing.
Generally, students must commit to the university by May 1st. Some colleges have extended the decision date until May 15th or early June due to FAFSA issues.
Still, several students interviewed by The New York Times said they make decisions without knowing the full picture of tuition costs, and financial aid experts recommend this behavior. Not yet. Others said they would not be able to commit to their chosen university unless they knew how much it would cost.
Kenneth Seinsin, 17, from New York City, wanted to be the first in his family to attend college, so he started filling out applications the first week they arrived. But troubleshooting the glitches he encountered took months. He finally filed in March.
So far, he has received only one aid package, to Union College in New York, and has not yet made a decision. “The whole process really stressed me out,” Kenneth said.
Clover Schwalm, an 18-year-old from Michigan, was in a similar situation. As a disabled and transgender student, she wanted a school with an accessible and inclusive environment. She has not yet received all of her packages from high-priority schools like Savannah College of Art and Design, but she has committed to Arizona State University.
She said she had “reservations” about moving to Arizona, but was reassured by the fact that Arizona does not ban transgender care for adults. “While it's not the best, we also recognize that there are states where it may be less safe,” she said.
Simply completing an application can be a frustrating task for many people. Some people may not be able to save or modify changes, and some may not be able to submit the form at all.
So far this year, there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of students who have filled out the form compared to last year. Data analysis by the National College Admission Network found that 35.6% of high school students graduating this year completed their scholarship applications by April 26, compared with 48.2% of the previous class at the same time. Ta.
“The FAFSA completion data is telling a bad story and making the situation even worse,” said Bill DeBerne, senior director at NCAN, which tracks FAFSA applications.
Michigan student Reyna filed her FAFSA form in January, but it wasn't processed until late March. She was accepted to several schools, but the FAFSA system did not allow her to add those schools to her application, so she gave up on getting financial aid from the FAFSA.
Ava James, 17, from California, faced a different but still frustrating hurdle. When she tried to add her mother's first name, Janice Sherrill, her system couldn't handle the double name. She eventually figured it out, but the system prematurely submitted the form without her signature. It took her six weeks to fix it.
Another problem is the complex representation of forms.
Vanessa Farris, a counselor at the Ayers Foundation Trust in McMinnville, Tenn., said several of her students stumbled on one particular question.
“Who are the student's parents?” If you do not want to provide information, does the student have any special circumstances, such as those listed in question 7, that would prevent you from contacting parents or obtaining information?
“It's such a small thing, but it comes at a price,” Faris said. Several students gave wrong answers and were unable to correct their mistakes for months.
This debacle affects some people more than others. Agnes Cesare, a college counselor at UCLA Community Schools, said she worries about the impact on students from low-income families and racial minority groups that the new format is intended to help.
Cesare said the process was so difficult that some students at her school decided to earn an associate's degree and later save up for a bachelor's degree. But she worries that once they graduate high school, they won't get the help they need to transfer to a four-year school.
Cesare said that for these students, “the obstacles can feel insurmountable.”
This process was especially difficult for students with undocumented parents. The new system asks parents for their Social Security numbers, which undocumented immigrants don't have.
So did Elizabeth Templos Galindo, a 17-year-old from Tennessee, and her parents. They asked the Department of Education for assistance, but the case was held up for five hours until they learned of other forms of identification that her parents could submit.
Education Department officials acknowledged the glitches, and Deputy Education Secretary Cindy Marten said in a recent phone call with reporters that they were “working vigorously to resolve the issues.” Officials added that students can now amend their forms and updated financial records will be sent to the school. The department announced last month that Richard Cordray, director of the Office of Federal Student Aid, would resign.
Although the FAFSA is used by every school in the country, a small number of institutions (many of them private and elite schools with large endowments and many students from more affluent backgrounds) also use the College Scholarship Services Profile scholarship service profile). University Board.
The CSS Profile costs $25 per application, and schools that use it use a different formula to provide aid estimates. Because this form was free of numerous deficiencies, students were able to receive quotes more quickly from CSS-affiliated schools than from schools using her FAFSA.
That's what Owen Keller, 18, from Maine can say. He filled out both his FAFSA and CSS forms in December and paid tuition fees from his CSS-affiliated schools, such as Bowdoin College, well before his first FAFSA package arrived in late April. I have received the details. Owen decided on Bowdoin even before he received all his luggage.
FAFSA missteps are causing some people to reconsider their plans.
Yajaira Vargas, 18, from Reno, Nevada, wants to study political science and become an immigration lawyer. Although she was accepted to her first choice, the University of Nevada, Reno, she could not apply for aid until May.
She is currently considering taking a gap year rather than going to university right away. “But I don't want to do that,” she said.
Christopher Marr, assistant vice president for financial aid and scholarships at Texas State University, said the university is also feeling the stress of the FAFSA disaster.
“I know the U.S. Department of Education is doing its best at this time, but it seems like every few days a new wrinkle appears and a new challenge emerges that we must adapt to.” Dr. Ma said.
Experts fear the situation could get even worse this summer, when the debacle could collide with a “summer melt”. In other words, this is the time when students who have taken all the necessary steps to enroll in a university, such as paying the entrance fee, decide not to enroll before the fall semester. .
That's why DeBaun said June 30, when the school year ends and high school students are no longer eligible for counseling, is considered an important milestone.
“Can we provide students with the support they need to complete this process?” he asked.
alan blinder Contributed to the report.