The department of education has begun to release millions of students’ FAFSA results, kickstarting the waves of paperwork in university financial offices across the country as schools rush to make up for lost time after repeated delays by the department of education.
According to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) website, since December 30th, 2023, the department of education has been slowly processing student aid requests and releasing them to institutions; however, only recently has the effort picked up to pre-2023 standards. This delay has proven to be a headache for senior scholars whose college decisions hinge on receiving their financial aid packages.
Tori Yost, 12th grade, commented, “Through the constant delays of FASFA, it has made it hard to make a decision… My dream school is SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design); however, with a tuition of 51,000 dollars a year and no financial aid, it makes it hard to make a decision.”
Tori Yost has since been made to enroll at a local state college as the pressure mounts, with the May 1 commitment deadline rapidly approaching and the threat of an unknown financial burden looming. Unfortunately, this story is not unique, and these life-altering decisions are being made by seniors across the nation.
This crisis has not gone unnoticed by federal legislators. On February 21, 2024, a joint statement led by Vermont’s Senator Brenard Sanders was sent to the Department of Education.
Any delays in financial aid processing will most impact the students that need aid most, including many students of color, students from mixed-status families, students from rural backgrounds, students experiencing homelessness or in foster care, first-generation students, and students from underserved communities. For institutions to support students’ ability to make informed decisions about their future, they need clear guidance and resources from the Department immediately on any and all next steps.
While results are coming out, the backlog of applications will continue to pose a challenge for the timely processing of applications. According to the Department of Education, approximately 21.9 million students filed for FASFA in 2012. Currently, from December to present, a whole three months have passed, and in this time, the department of education has processed only 4.3 million applications. With less than two months remaining before May 1, the timeline is strict.
Academic advisor Diane Downer of One School of the Sciences instructs scholars to continue to monitor for updates to their applications on the FAFSA website and to stay resilient throughout these troubling times.
