ED's Latest FAFSA Misstep May Mean Further Delayed Aid to College Students
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Allie Arcese
Sr. Director, Strategic Communications
(202) 785-6954
[email protected]
WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 30, 2024 — Today the U.S. Department of Education announced that the ability for schools to submit batch corrections for student FAFSA records will not be available for the 2024-25 year after initially announcing in June that the functionality would be available in the first half of August, already months behind schedule.
Batch processing allows financial aid professionals to more quickly, efficiently, and accurately submit FAFSA corrections in bulk, and is ordinarily available when the FAFSA application goes live, typically on October 1. In a normal year, a large school may process hundreds if not thousands of corrections which need to be completed before final aid offers can be issued and disbursements can be made. Without batch corrections, financial aid officers will instead need to work around the clock to manually submit corrections for individual students, a slow and laborious workaround to ensure students receive their disbursements in time for the beginning of the 2024-25 school year.
Delays in aid disbursements will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable students who need these funds to pay their bills and begin classes.
In response to this news, Beth Maglione, Interim NASFAA President & CEO, issued the following statement:
Today's announcement is beyond frustrating. Once again, the Department of Education has failed to provide a key FAFSA deliverable when promised. While we understand that resources are finite and ensuring next year's FAFSA is fully functional is critical, the federal government is still obligated to ensure this year's students are able to access critical funds.
The Department's poor planning has led to a stunning failure: Some college students might not have financial aid dollars in their hands in time to start classes in the next few weeks. And for schools, the impact of today's announcement means more than a few extra hours of work. It's the difference between pushing a button versus making thousands of keystrokes in terms of administrative burden.
Students and families have suffered enough over the last seven months since the "Better FAFSA" application first opened. Those who didn't give up in frustration have worked through glitches, errors, and lapses in communication. We've heard stories of parents waiting on the phone with the Department for hours to ask for help, only to be disconnected or eventually hang up in exasperation. We've heard of students castigating themselves for "messing something up," when in reality the FAFSA process is what's broken. Too often, financial aid professionals have been on the receiving end of students' very understandable but misplaced dissatisfaction over things beyond their control.
We reiterate what we've said before: While the Department has provided "workarounds" for schools to submit FAFSA corrections on a one-by-one, manual basis or to make provisional financial aid disbursements, today's announcement goes beyond impractical and approaches unworkable, redirecting even more time from other important tasks.
The availability of technical assistance to help institutions submit individual corrections is severely limited by the lengthy timelines common at most institutions to attain system access and execute a contract. Time is short, and the Department must implement NASFAA's numerous requested concessions so financial aid administrators can focus on what counts right now — helping students achieve their dreams of attending college, no matter their financial circumstances.
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About NASFAA
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) is a nonprofit membership organization that represents more than 29,000 financial aid professionals at approximately 3,000 colleges, universities, and career schools across the country. NASFAA member institutions serve nine out of every 10 undergraduates in the U.S. Based in Washington, D.C., NASFAA is the only national association with a primary focus on student aid legislation, regulatory analysis, and training for financial aid administrators.
Publication Date: 7/30/2024