As application deadlines approach, fewer and fewer students know how they will be able to finance their college education next year.
Ongoing problems with the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid have delayed financial aid award letters and even prevented many high school students and their families from applying for aid.
As of the latest update, approximately 7.3 million 2024-2025 FAFSA applications have been submitted and sent to schools, according to the U.S. Department of Education, or less than half of the more than 17 million students who use the FAFSA during ordinary years.
At the current rate, the number of FAFSAs submitted by the end of August will be about 2.6 million fewer than the same time last year, an 18% decrease, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
“It’s a total disaster,” he said.
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Still, it’s too early to tell whether the remaining students will eventually apply for aid and what impact that might have on their decisions about college in the fall, according to Sandy Baum, a senior fellow at the Center on Education Data and Policy at the Urban Institute.
“The question really is, ‘What is the long-term impact?’ “We don’t know yet,” she said.
Many establishments now grant aid with the information they have, according to the Ministry of Education.
“Students should know that they are not going through this alone, we will remain in regular communication with schools and students and encourage students to stay in touch with us and their colleges,” a ministry spokesperson said education.
Ramon Montiel García 17, senior at KIPP Northeast Denver Leadership Academy in Colorado.
Credit: Ramon Montiel García
Ramon Montejo García, a 17-year-old senior at the KIPP Northeast Denver Leadership Academy in Colorado, was accepted into his first choice school, Wheaton College in Massachusetts.
But with a sticker price of nearly $80,000 a year, including tuition and room and board, Montejo García, like many college applicants, will need financial assistance to keep costs down . However, he has not yet submitted a FASFA, which serves as a gateway to all federal aid, including loans, work-study opportunities and grants.
One problem with the new form specifically concerned parents without a Social Security number. Although Montejo García’s parents have lived in the United States since 2001, they are both undocumented. (The U.S. Department of Education has said this issue has been resolved.)
Without help, Montejo Garcia said he would likely attend a public school, but added that “it’s been very emotional.”
“How is this going to happen? I don’t have much time,” he said.
Other students may also default to their local public college, according to Charles Welch, president and CEO of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
“Many of our students are more likely to attend a nearby institution,” he said. “For many of our students, it’s less about comparing offers and more about asking, ‘Can I go?'”
Fewer subsidies paid
As of April 5, only 28% of the high school class of 2024 had completed the FAFSA, according to the National College Attainment Network, a drop of 38% from last year.
Of all the financial aid opportunities opened up by the FAFSA, grants are the most desirable type of aid because they generally do not need to be repaid.
Under the new aid formula, 2.1 million more students are expected to be eligible for the maximum Pell Grant, according to the Department of Education.
However, given the slower pace of FAFSA application submissions, “the number of Pell Grant recipients will be about the same as last year, despite the new Pell Grant formula making it easier to qualify for students,” Kantrowitz said.
Completing the FAFSA paves the way to college
According to the National College Attainment Network, submitting a FAFSA is one of the best indicators of whether a high school student will go to college. Seniors who complete the FAFSA are 84% more likely to immediately enroll in college.
However, in the past, many families mistakenly thought they would not qualify for financial assistance and did not even bother to apply for it. Others said a lengthy and overly complicated application was a major obstacle. Some said they simply didn’t have enough information about it.
In ordinary years, high school graduates were already missing out on billions of dollars in federal grants because they didn’t fill out the FAFSA form, experts say.
“We really want to think about students who are considering opting out of the process altogether,” said Ellie Bruecker, interim research director at the Institute for College Access and Success.
The goal of simplifying the FAFSA was to improve access to college, she added. “The number of students excluded from the college pipeline is enormous.”
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