FAFSA delays caused many colleges to extend enrollment periods, moving the deadline for students to review financial aid offers for the fall. Consumer Investigator Rachel DePompa spoke to an expert about the impact and what you can do to be prepared.
rollout of the revamped Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, application has been fraught with delays and technical problems delays have made it difficult for students and parents to assess what schools they can afford and prompted many colleges to push back acceptance deadlines, said the new FAFSA was supposed to launch last October, but it didn’t actually happen until December 28.
And then a month after launching, the DOE noticed a problem. “They did not calculate things correctly, including putting in inflation adjustments. The result is that families would have gotten significantly less financial aid because they should be getting more money due to the higher inflation that we have been seeing,” Farrington said. “The result is the Department of Education said we are going to recalculate all the numbers, but we’re not going to be able to send this information to colleges until mid-March.” Farrington said that means families are not even going to get financial aid offers until early April because colleges have to turn that information around and send it out. May 1 has been the traditional deadline, but he suggested that parents and students should check with their prospective college since the deadline may have been moved. “I do see that more families are choosing backup options because a lot of state schools will still allow you to apply all the way through March and April,” Farrington observed. “So, if you applied to a private school and you’re like, ‘I need another backup,’ you still probably have time for your state school, even though it feels very late in the college admissions process.” He said that’s his best advice right now, look for safety net schools, basically a low-cost alternative like a state school, community college or different programs. Farrington also noted that now is the time to look for merit-based scholarships from private organizations and companies. These have nothing to do with your financial aid, but they can help offset the cost of college.House passes bill that could lead to a TikTok ban; bill now goes to the Senate
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