The redesigned 2024-25 Free Software for Federal Pupil Assist (FAFSA) is now out there across the clock, following a weeklong mushy launch, throughout which the shape was open for as little as half-hour a day. Though the brand new type is less complicated and shorter, college students and households are nonetheless contending with technical glitches, modified processes and complicated questions.
“There have been some bumps within the highway in phrases of accessibility and performance,” says Steve Colón, CEO of Backside Line, a school entry group that works with first-generation college students from low-income backgrounds in New York Metropolis, Boston, Chicago and Ohio. “On the constructive facet, we have heard that for some college students it is taking about 20 minutes to finish the FAFSA, which is wildly totally different from what it was earlier than.” Lately, finishing the FAFSA may take an hour or longer.
Consultants urge college students to submit the brand new FAFSA as quickly as doable, since some varieties of monetary help have precedence deadlines or draw from a restricted pool. About 1 million college students have submitted the brand new FAFSA as of Jan. 8, based on U.S. Training Division knowledge. That’s roughly 6% of the 17 million who sometimes submit the shape annually.
Perplexed about one thing on the brand new FAFSA? Listed here are its 5 most-confusing features, and methods to take care of them — so you’ll be able to submit your type ASAP.
1. Persistent technical glitches
Technical glitches on the FAFSA might be irritating. For instance, some customers report getting repeatedly logged out earlier than they’ll end their type. If you happen to encounter points like this, it’s OK to take a break and are available again to the shape a bit later.
“There may be not an enormous rush on filling it out in the present day versus tomorrow,” says Karen McCarthy, vp of public coverage and federal relations on the Nationwide Affiliation of Pupil Monetary Assist Directors. “So it’s doable to come back again in just a few days, and hopefully, a few of these glitches might be labored out by that cut-off date.”
Different glitches stay baked into the shape. For instance, some college names are getting reduce off on the FAFSA. This may be complicated if a faculty you’d prefer to ship your FAFSA to has a number of campuses. If this occurs, college students can do an web seek for a faculty’s Federal Faculty Code, and use that quantity to drag it up within the FAFSA.
The scenario is evolving daily. The newest record of identified FAFSA glitches and workarounds is accessible on StudentAid.gov.
2. You’ll be able to’t right submitted solutions till late January
If you happen to submitted your portion of the FAFSA however realized you made an error, you will have to attend just a few weeks till you’ll be able to repair it.
College students will obtain an e mail with their FAFSA Submission Abstract — which particulars submitted solutions, Pell Grant eligibility and their Pupil Assist Index — as soon as the Division of Training processes their accomplished type, which is slated to start out in late January. Then, you may make any crucial corrections to your submitted solutions.
Even in the event you make a correction in a while, it gained’t change the submission time stamp in your FAFSA, McCarthy says. This may very well be necessary for college kids making use of for monetary help that’s first come, first served or that has an early software deadline.
“If a correction is made on January 30, that software date shouldn’t be up to date to January 30. It nonetheless information when the FAFSA was initially filed,” McCarthy says.
3. Undocumented dad and mom can’t entry the shape but
There’s a brand new course of for undocumented dad and mom to request an FSA ID this yr — nevertheless it’s not working but, and there’s no timeline for when it will likely be. Till this difficulty is mounted, college students whose dad and mom don’t have Social Safety numbers (SSNs) can’t submit the FAFSA.
Taking a while to get organized now will help you full the FAFSA extra simply as soon as it’s out there. If you happen to’re a mum or dad with out an SSN, proceed to achieve out to assist constructions, like faculty entry organizations or college counselors, Colón says.
“The second that the software turns into out there, it’s important to get in there and get began,” says Colón. “Whereas it’s a drastically simplified type, it isn’t going to be for college kids whose dad and mom haven’t got an SSN, so it may be actually necessary that they get all their monetary paperwork prepared as quickly as doable to give themselves the time they might want to full the shape.”
4. Invitation course of for contributors
This yr, college students and fogeys fill out and submit their related portion of the FAFSA individually. Both the scholar begins and completes their portion of the FAFSA and “invitations” the mum or dad, or a mum or dad can begin and full their part, then they invite the scholar.
That’s totally different from previous years, when a dependent scholar and their dad and mom needed to sit down collectively and fill out a single type.
“It’s a role-based course of, the place it was not earlier than,” says Jodi Vanden Berge, director of school planning and outreach at EducationQuest, a Nebraska-based faculty entry nonprofit.
5. Complicated questions
Although the brand new FAFSA is usually extra simple than in years previous, debtors have reported that a number of questions are complicated or unclear. Listed here are two to be careful for:
Free lunch query
This has proved complicated, since some college districts launched free and decreased lunch applications for all college students, no matter their household’s monetary scenario, in the course of the pandemic.
Underneath the federal advantages query — At any time throughout 2022 or 2023, did the scholar or anybody of their household obtain advantages from any of the next federal applications? — “free or reduced-price college lunch” is an possibility.
If a scholar obtained free or decreased lunch, whatever the circumstances, they need to point out that on the FAFSA, says Vanden Berge.
Dependency query
Some college students have reported confusion about this new query used to ascertain dependency: Are the scholar’s dad and mom unwilling to supply their info, however the scholar doesn’t have an uncommon circumstance that forestalls them from contacting or acquiring their dad and mom’ info?
If a scholar selects “sure” — that they do not need to present mum or dad info — then, the mum or dad cannot fill out their part of the FAFSA, Vanden Berge says. This may disqualify a scholar from most federal monetary help, aside from direct unsubsidized loans, that means they’ll’t entry grants, work-study or sponsored loans, which don’t accrue curiosity whereas they’re at school.
If you happen to do make a mistake, keep in mind you could request a correction as soon as your type is processed.
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