Financial Aid Impact on College Decisions

Although the days of anxiously waiting for college decisions have ended, many students are still in limbo about selecting a university. Having already worried about their essays, extracurriculars, interviews, and grades, the Class of 2024 now has another thing to worry about: the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA is a crucial form for students to receive federal aid during college and has been extremely delayed due to glitches and bugs. 

According to NPR, even though the FAFSA Simplification Act was passed in 2019 to streamline the process of applying for financial aid, the form has actually been marked with delays and problems. 

Senior Aissa Maiga expressed worry about the new FAFSA form: “To hear that they were doing a switch of how FAFSA works and moving into their soft launch, I was wondering how that would affect my own college process. I didn’t want that to change my decisions.” 

As high schools and colleges are confused by the numerous bugs, millions of prospective students are still waiting for their financial aid.

The FAFSA form was made available in January, three months later than it usually is.  In normal years, schools start receiving financial information about students in January and can make financial offers by the end of March. However, students now have less time to review their financial aid information before the National Enrollment Deadline of May 1st. 

Although students were told that the FAFSA was ready for a soft launch in January, they had difficulties beginning the form.  Maiga said, “The FAFSA was not there [in January]. For some of my schools, the FAFSA was due on the 15th of January or early February and the FAFSA wasn’t even open for me [yet].”

Maiga isn’t the only senior stressing about the FAFSA. Senior Belle Reader also had a lot of trouble accessing the FAFSA: “I tried accessing it for two weeks straight before I could get a hold of it… In my own experience, it was a hit or miss… It was basically gambling. You don’t know when you will get the hand you want.”

Students normally receive their financial aid packages immediately after their college decisions. Students who applied to schools that only utilize the FAFSA were not able to see the amount of funding they would receive. Maiga said, “For a lot of the schools that I applied to, let’s say if I got into a school, I would be excited, but then my next step would be to check the financial aid, and I wouldn’t be able to see that to help weigh my decisions at all.”

According to EdSource, The UCs and CSUs have extended their Intent to Register to May 15 because of the delays. Some Cal States had even extended them to June 1. The Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Admissions at the UC Office of the President said, “By extending the decision window, we aim to ensure California students, particularly those from low-income and first-generation backgrounds, have the time and space to fully assess their options and, ultimately, unlock college opportunities they might not have thought possible.”

While colleges are aware of the FAFSA delays, some colleges have not extended their enrollment deadlines. At the time of the interview, Reader was still waiting for news about her financial package, as her prospective colleges had not addressed any sort of enrollment deadline extension. “How am I supposed to make a fully educated decision about where I am going to be spending my tuition money if I don’t know how much support I’m going to get,” she remarked. 

However, some colleges were able to receive information from the FAFSA earlier than others. Reader said, “How certain colleges are getting their information quicker than others? It didn’t seem right”. 

Maiga has already committed to a college but says, “If I didn’t get those scholarships [at the college I enrolled in], I would have to rely on financial aid. Considering a lot of the financial aid packages are gonna come after the deadline for commitment for a lot of schools, I don’t know what I would have done in that situation.”