Students could be pressed to make college decisions with little time after FASFA delays

Hayley Milon
·1 min read

WASHINGTON (DC News Now)– Education officials are raising concerns about students receiving financial aid offers in time to make college enrollment decisions.

Due to new federal regulations, FASFA, or the Free Application for Student Financial Aid, updated its systems and procedures during this application cycle. Typically, the form is made available to families on Oct. 1. This year, it wasn’t available until January. Many FASFA score responses contained errors, causing further delays.

‘Bumpy’ FAFSA rollout leads to frustration for college applicants

A letter sent March 28 to the U.S. Department of Education from the American Council on Education elevated the concerns. It shared survey results, including more than 300 colleges and universities as respondents.

Most colleges have a May 1 deadline for enrollment decisions. Of the respondents, 32% of the institutions said they’re considering pushing back the deadline for both enrollment decisions and housing requests, while 22% said they’re currently unsure about changing deadlines.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, over 85% of students use some form of financial assistance. During the 2020-2021 FASFA cycle, 17.8 million applications for student aid were submitted.

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