"The past few months have been trying for Saint Louis University’s student financial aid office, which worked overtime trying to process and distribute financial aid packages to prospective students," Higher Ed Dive reports.

... "'What we’re hearing is just frustration and exhaustion,' said Jill Desjean, senior policy analyst at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. 'It’s just been a really tiring process and a tiring cycle.'

"The Education Department has worked to resolve issues as they come up and to provide assistance to financial aid offices. Still, the issues have taken a toll."

"'The hits keep coming,' said Desjean. 'It was just one more of those, ‘Ugh, not again.’ It feels like financial aid administrators just can’t catch a break this year.'"

... "As to why, financial aid employees largely named wanting higher pay, the ability to work remotely and flexible work schedules."

"'We’ve been struggling since the pandemic with people leaving, high turnover,' said Desjean. After this year, 'we’re going to see a lot more people reporting burnout, reporting turnover, reporting having difficulties filling positions.'"

... "Looking ahead, Desjean said she doesn’t expect 'we’ll see the disaster of this year,' repeated next year as the Education Department will not be building an entirely new system again."

"This month, the Education Department announced it was still aiming to meet the Oct. 1 rollout for the 2025-26 FAFSA cycle. The agency said it will not make any additional major changes to the form and will bypass public comment on it this year."

"Desjean has some confidence that the Education Department will meet that rollout date, but is not convinced the department will have the entire process ready by then — such as allowing students and schools to make corrections."

"However, she also hopes the department doesn’t rush to 'put something out by Oct. 1 because they feel like they have to save face, and then find out things don’t work,' she said."

"For the financial aid administrator profession, it’s important for the Education Department to run a smooth FAFSA process next year, said Desjean."

"If next year isn’t smooth, 'the issues from this year would be compounded,' she said."

NASFAA's "Notable Headlines" section highlights media coverage of financial aid to help members stay up to date with the latest news. Articles included under the notable headlines section are not written by NASFAA, but rather by external sources. Inclusion in Today's News does not imply endorsement of the material or guarantee the accuracy of information presented.

Publication Date: 6/27/2024