While recent changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid have kept all students from receiving their financial aid packages on time, some — like minority and first-generation college students — may feel the impacts of those delays more than others.
The FAFSA Simplification Act, which passed in 2020 and was updated in 2022, was intended to improve the process of applying for financial aid, but students are struggling with complications associated with the changes implemented for the 2024-25 school year.
The FAFSA is usually released on Oct. 1, but in 2023, it was delayed until Dec. 30 — nearly three months. The U.S. Department of Education is still working to resolve a host of issues with the form.
This may have a greater impact on minority students, who depend more on financial aid for college. According to data from the 2019-20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, “White undergraduates who received federal student aid received on average $8,800. Compared to them, Black undergraduates and undergraduates of two or more races received higher amounts on average.”
Jack Facio, a sophomore majoring in Arabic and international studies, shed light onto FAFSA challenges faced by students with undocumented parents, a group that has been particularly affected by the issues with the form.
“When your parents are in an uncommon situation like being undocumented, it delays your process further,” Facio said. “Let’s say the original delay for students with U.S. citizen parents of parents with proper documentation is a month. For those without proper documentation, it’s double.”
The changes have posed other challenges. Many students, particularly those with parents who lack social security numbers, were unable to complete the form due to a glitch in the system. Students have the option of filling out a paper FAFSA form, but many say that waiting for the digital form is still the better option due to the paper forms taking longer to process.
“When FAFSA is the main stressor for applying to most universities, and the FAFSA application won’t even make it easier for those who need it most, it’s very discouraging,” Facio said. “When it asks for a social security number and the answer is no, it’s like congratulations, you’re finished with the FAFSA. It doesn’t even give students a chance to see if they’re qualified for this allegedly very important financial aid. They kind of just stripped that chance away from a lot of students.”
The changes have also caused difficulties for first-generation college students and students whose parents have little to no experience with the FAFSA. According to data from the Center for First-Generation Student Success, 65% of first-generation students utilize financial aid services compared to the 49% of continuing-generation students who use it.
“We do not have the fortune of parents who know how to work around this form,” Edward Hunter, a sophomore political science major and vice president of the First-Generation Student Network, said. “We are learning just as they are with this process.”
Many students are worried that final award offerings might not come in before college decision deadlines. Reporting from Mississippi Today said that experts are also concerned that students will be forced to choose a school without knowledge of how much financial aid they will be receiving, or they must postpone attending college.
The updates meant to make the process of applying for financial aid less complicated have left students struggling with the repercussions of technological issues and anxiety caused by the delay in receiving financial aid.
“I believe it has made it more challenging, especially with there being much more uncertainty,” Hunter said. “I remember receiving an email from the financial aid office that detailed that they do not know when the financial aid will be delivered to them. This caused me to get scared because I rely so heavily on financial aid.”
Hunter also said that attempting to fill out the form with his mother caused a lot of frustration, as according to his mother, it seemed designed to “mess people up.”
“In the beginning, I wasn’t sure if it was asking for my student loan information or my student information,” Hunter’s mother, Pauline Wright, said. “I was confused on how to apply income statements. It was difficult to answer without having actual documents in front of me. The FAFSA of previous years was easier because it didn’t include all the financial information of the parent.”
The University of Mississippi does not impose decision deadlines and hopes to begin awarding aid packages sometime in April. The school also has extended the deadlines for select scholarships for the 2024-25 school year.
