Some area high school seniors have only recently gotten their financial aid offers due to delays in the process. The process also impacts college students considering their finances for next school year.
The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday that officials completed reprocessing FAFSA forms impacted by known issues with IRS data, which should enable all universities and colleges to package financial aid offers.
Northmont High School senior Sydney Wilson plans to attend Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia and study biochemistry. Wilson said she was immediately drawn to Spelman when she visited. The historically Black women’s liberal arts college “felt like home.”
But its cost was a big deal – almost $55,000 per year.
On Tuesday, she found out she was getting a full-tuition scholarship to Spelman, which she and her parents were relieved to hear.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Normally, universities announce that aid by mid-April. Wilson heard back from other universities before she heard back from Spelman, and she knew she might be leaving scholarship offers on the table.
“I didn’t know what I was going to get from FAFSA because I’ve never done this before,” Wilson said.
The FAFSA has been plagued with errors since last year, when the Department of Education announced it would delay the FAFSA to allow for planned changes to be made. The new FAFSA was meant to be simpler for families and students to fill out, but it wasn’t released until late December, when it’s usually available by October.
Universities usually ask families to complete the FAFSA by Feb. 15 for priority consideration. Some universities pushed back that deadline this year, but others did not.
In early April, the U.S. Department of Education discovered a problem with how a vendor calculated Institutional Student Information Records (ISIR), a document created after the FAFSA has been filled out, further delaying financial aid for some students.
Traditionally, high school seniors make their college decisions by May 1. For several 2024 seniors at Northmont High School, the waiting period to decide which college they’d be attending in the fall took longer than it would have for the class of 2023 because of the FAFSA stress.
Carson Stone plans on attending Miami University and studying computer science. Stone said he and his mom didn’t have a hard time filling out the FAFSA. But his dad had a difficult time submitting a signature.
“It took a couple times to fill out,” Stone said.
Tyler Jones, who plans to attend the University of Cincinnati and study either social work or business, said he had a hard time logging into the form. Jones said he would sometimes try to log in and get kicked out.
Kim Everhart, director of financial aid for Wright State University, said the university got several corrected FAFSAs on Tuesday but is still waiting for about 450 additional FAFSAs to be reprocessed.
“Wright State has started offering aid to continuing students enrolled in the summer,” Everhart said. “We will begin to offer aid to all eligible students soon.”
Cedarville executive director of financial aid Kim Jenerette said the university has been able to make financial aid offers, but there are still issues with errors needing to be fixed, He said there have also been changes to some students’ financial aid packages, which some students and families have asked about.
“We are currently experiencing the fallout of the Department of Education’s updated calculations, and as a result, some students are now receiving less need-based funds than initially determined,” Jenerette said. “And, there are still many outstanding issues that have not been resolved, which is evidenced by the 15-page guide of technical issues that still may need a resolution.”
University of Dayton officials noted that nationally, there are fewer students filling out the FAFSA now than there were at this point last year. Even students who don’t think they qualify for federal aid may be able to get scholarships based on FAFSA information.
It is not clear how the changes in FAFSA could impact enrollment in the fall.
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