We-Ha.com will be publishing a series of essays/blogs/reflections on the issue of going to college – primarily a set of thoughts and musings, along with some practical advice, intended to support students and parents as they embark on this journey. While many of our readers are experts in this topic, many others are less knowledgeable and have little outside support. We hope this is helpful to all readers as they go through the various stages of getting into and getting something out of college.

By Adrienne Leinwand Maslin

Adrienne Leinwand Maslin. Courtesy photo

I originally wrote an article about this year’s problematic financial aid application process for publication in February. However, the story of the new, simplified, easier-to-deal-with, shorter, less complicated, meat-and-potatoes style FAFSA was moving quickly and I wasn’t able to keep up with all that transpired so I moved on to other important topics. But the FAFSA seems to be “the gift that keeps on giving” and it has become newsworthy once again.

Anyone who has completed the FAFSA will say an overhaul was sorely needed. The number of four-letter words that escape students’ and parents’ lips while completing this form – either cautiously mumbled under one’s breath so the little ones don’t hear or shouted to the heavens with impassioned prayers to whoever is on duty up there – is only rivaled by the swearing of Yankees fans when their beloved Bronx Bombers are defeated by their arch-rivals, the Red Sox. It was hoped that the simplified FAFSA form would serve to contain the expletives.

The United States Department of Education (DOE) spent the past several years simplifying the form. The full revision is now complete, sort of, and the new “Better” FAFSA as it is called – for use during the current admission cycle – was rolled out. It got off to a very rocky start! Usually available beginning October 1 of each year, this year’s FAFSA, because of the redesign, was not ready for use until Dec. 31, 2023.

Just consider this imaginary conversation between two high school seniors on New Year’s Eve:

“Hey, you coming to the party tonight?”

“Are you crazy? Didn’t you hear? The new FAFSA was just released! Gotta get my FSA ID and complete my form!”

“Well then, come to the party and bring your laptop! That’s what we’re all going to be doing. Right up ‘til midnight!”

Unfortunately, some additional rubble and gravel got in the way and completing and submitting the FAFSA has turned out to be a far bumpier experience for students than expected. Accessing the form on Dec. 31 was very difficult and most students had to wait until the first few days of January to get a glimpse of the new version. (The New Year’s Eve party in the conversation above, if it had been real, most likely turned into what you would expect of a high school party on New Year’s Eve – which I won’t venture to describe – because the FAFSA was not accessible!)

Students applying for financial aid this year are most likely familiar with the changes but I’ll do a brief review:

1. A reduction in the number of questions from 108 to 46. Depending on a student’s circumstances, some students are required to answer even fewer questions.
2. The use of a new term – “contributor.” A contributor might be the student, the student’s spouse, biological or adoptive parents, or a parent’s spouse. Responses to certain required questions on the FAFSA determine who should be considered a contributor. This does not mean that contributors are held responsible for a student’s education costs but only that information from them is required for the FAFSA to be complete.
3. Creation of an FSA ID. To begin completing the FAFSA, students and those people determined to be contributors must create an account on studentaid.gov. Creating an FSA ID does not obligate a student to apply for aid.
4. “Consent and approval” for federal tax information to automatically be transferred into the FAFSA form by the IRS. This is referred to as the DDX, mandatory IRS Direct Data Exchange. With the new form students filing the FAFSA, along with their parents or spouse if applicable, are no longer able to fill in their tax information manually; students and contributors must sign their consent and approval for the IRS to transfer federal tax information directly into the form. Although this was previously an option, the process was a bit clumsy. The DoE has worked with the IRS to streamline the operation.
5. Expected Family Contribution (EFC) replaced by the Student Aid Index (SAI). Colleges will use the SAI to determine a student’s financial aid award. This number can range from -1500 to 999999; a lower number typically means the need is greater.
6. Access to the FAFSA Submission Summary. This summary, which students can access once their FAFSA has been processed, is not an offer of aid but it provides an idea of the amount of federal aid a student may be eligible for. Offers of aid come directly from the colleges and universities students have been accepted to.
7. The number of students in college from a single household. This factor will no longer be included in determining aid eligibility. While this has the potential to harm families with more than one child in college it is not necessarily the case. According to Ann Garcia, a financial planner in Portland, OR, and the author of How to Pay for College, “just because the federal formula the schools lean on suddenly says many families should pay a lot more, it doesn’t mean a school will automatically stick your family with higher bills. It just might lower the price – or give you more scholarships that you won’t have to repay. Colleges aren’t in a position to raise costs without risking enrollment, whatever the FAFSA does” (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/03/your-money/multiple-kids-college-fafsa.html?searchResultPosition=1).
8. A change for dependent students of divorced parents. Students of divorced parents now have to provide financial data from the parent who provided the most financial support to the student rather than the parent the student lived with the most. If the parents provided an equal amount of support the parent with the higher income is identified as the custodial parent.
9. Designation of recipient colleges. The old FAFSA only had space to designate 10 colleges to be recipients of an applicant’s financial information. This has now been increased to 20. Further, once a student receives their FAFSA Submission Summary they can delete some colleges and add others.

I recommend looking at “7 Key Changes Coming to the 2024-2025 FAFSA Experience at https://studentaid.gov/articles/fafsa-changes-coming/. Much of the information above came from this website and it is quite informative.

Several major issues with the FAFSA confronted students, parents, and colleges this year. For example, many parents who are not U.S. citizens but whose children are were not able to complete their portion of the FAFSA due to their lack of a social security number. This was not supposed to happen and it delayed FAFSA filing for many students who are most in need of aid. Although the issue was thought to be rectified, according to Chalkbeat (https://www.chalkbeat.org/2024/04/05/fafsa-problems-delays-endanger-college-plans/) some students and parents are still having difficulty.

Another issue was the DOE linking consumer price index figures from 2020 rather than 2024 to determine a student’s aid eligibility. Yet another cause of delay but one which has been fixed. A third issue, discovered just recently, was that there were discrepancies in the IRS data that was rolled over into the FAFSA resulting in inaccurate data on about 1 million forms. The Department of Education is reprocessing all forms that have been impacted by the discrepant data but has given colleges the option of awarding aid based on incorrect data if it will result in a student receiving more aid than they would ordinarily be entitled to. But, it means more delays and it means that next year’s aid award, for the same student, might be less, even if their circumstances remain the same.

Typically, completed FAFSA forms are sent to an applicant’s selected colleges during the month of January. This year, however, because of the great number of problems in the FAFSA rollout, the forms were not submitted until at least mid-March and for many students, are just now being submitted. All of this has had a significant impact on the ability of many colleges to provide timely information about financial aid awards. Most students do not yet know their awards and are not able to compare awards from various colleges. That does not give students much time to evaluate their aid packages and make a decision by what has always been the universal student commitment date of May 1. While many colleges throughout the country have extended that deadline, students and families may receive financial aid awards at very different times and may feel compelled to put a deposit down on a college that has an earlier deadline before receiving an award letter from a preferred school.

According to Irene Martin, Director of Financial Aid Operations and Outreach for Connecticut State Community College, “The FAFSA delays have understandably been frustrating, but please do not let this discourage you from applying for financial aid! Apply now if you have not already done so. Schools and the U.S. Department of Education are using their social media platforms to keep students updated on the latest information regarding FAFSA processing. If necessary, ask your top choice schools for an extension of their admission commitment dates because of the financial aid offer delays.”

For up to date information about all things related to this year’s FAFSA, visit https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/topics/fafsa-simplification-information/2024-25-fafsa-fast-news.

Financial aid is crucial to the entire college-going process and I do not want to see students get discouraged and decide to postpone or abandon their college dreams because of this year’s issues. Lest you think you will be forever mired in the “merde” (it sounds nicer in French) that has become this year’s FAFSA fiasco, Secretary Cardona promises that despite this year’s problems, parents and students will ultimately benefit from the new form and the simplified process. In the words of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation), “Make it so.”

Adrienne Leinwand Maslin recently retired from a 45-year career in higher education administration. She has worked at public and private institutions, urban and rural, large and small, and two-year and four-year, and is Dean Emerita at Middlesex Community College. She has held positions in admissions, affirmative action, president’s office, human resources, academic affairs, and student affairs. Maslin has a BA from the University of Vermont, an MEd from Boston University, and a PhD from the University of Oregon. She is presently creating a TV/web-based series on life skills and social issues for 9-12 year olds believing that the more familiar youngsters are with important social issues the easier their transition to college and adulthood will be. Information about this series as well as contact information can be found at www.shesroxanne.com.

Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford! Click the blue button below to become a supporter of We-Ha.com and our efforts to continue producing quality journalism.