The Malaras are not alone in having problems with the FAFSA, though the family’s technical problem may not be widespread. The FAFSA opened four months later than normal last year, due to the rollout of the new FAFSA from the Department of Education. Once families could access the form, many families struggled to submit corrections.
For students who cannot pay for their entire tuition and fees out of pocket, nearly all forms of financial support — institutional, state and federal, including eligibility for federal loans — require completion of the FAFSA.
A 2020 law directed the Education Department to simplify the FAFSA form, which had been criticized for being tedious and difficult, especially for families without college experience. But the launch of the simplified form in 2023 ran into error upon error — it launched months overdue in December, and students encountered glitches and hours-long waits for helpline assistance.
The number of high school seniors who have completed their Free Application for Federal Student Aid is down 9% compared with this time last year, according to the National College Attainment Network. That number was as high as 40% in the spring, when students usually must submit their forms to give schools enough time to assemble an aid package.
How much the FAFSA problems will impact the number of students attending college remains to be seen, counselors and advisers say. But the delays certainly have changed where students enrolled, with many students forced to pick a college with limited information about their financial picture.
In January, Chelby Malara said, the family submitted to 20 schools that they thought would be a possibility for Landen to attend. But Centre College, where he ended up attending, was not on the original list.
When the family logged in to submit a correction, they got stuck in a loop.
“The correction was started but had us in a continuous loop between entering school and finance,” Chelby Malara said. “It would not allow us to sign or submit the correction.”
After trying for a few weeks, the Malaras reached out to Ashley Overman, college access coordinator for the Montgomery County Educational Service Center.
“It kicks them back to re-report their assets, and once they do that, it kicks them back to the school,” Overman said.
Contacting Federal Student Aid, the part of the U.S. Department of Education in charge of FAFSA, also didn’t help, Overman said. The Malaras got contradictory information on what they should do.
“I feel it’s one of those things where there’s so much misinformation, and for the families who are struggling, FSA can’t even help them,” Overman said.
Overman said she believes the problem is a backend technical issue with the FAFSA website.
Malara said Centre College and Overman both suggested she call FSA and “escalate the issue up,” but she was told there wasn’t anyone higher that she could talk to.
“Once I was transferred to four different people only to then have the line disconnect while waiting to be transferred to the next person,” she said.
She said Centre College has worked with them.
“They assured me they would work with me the best they can since they understand FAFSA was the issue,” she said.
But Landen moved into college almost a month ago. The college has been working with the family and given them a grace period without interest, but time is ticking.
Centre College officials said employees cannot comment on a specific student situation due to federal laws about student privacy, but the college was among the first in the nation to implement an internal process to provide timely financial aid responses during the FAFSA delay.
“Centre puts its students first across all areas of the College and we are committed to ensuring students are not held accountable to timelines over which they have no control,” the college said in a statement. “Our financial aid experts have been working closely with families since February and will continue to do so until their problems are resolved by the U.S. Department of Education.”
Chelby Malara said the family is currently waiting for a submission summary to come in the mail.
FSA also stopped batch institutional corrections to the FAFSA until the 2025-2026 cycle.
A request for comment from the U.S. Department of Education was not returned by deadline.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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