"The U.S. Department of Education announced on Tuesday that colleges will not be able to submit corrections to students’ federal-aid records in bulk during the 2024-25 financial-aid cycle. In June, the department announced that institutions would be able to do so in the first half of August — several months later than usual," The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

... "Beth Maglione, interim president and chief executive of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, described the announcement as 'a stunning failure' on Tuesday. 'Once again, the Department of Education has failed to provide a key FAFSA deliverable when promised,” she said in a written statement. “Some college students might not have financial-aid dollars in their hands in time to start classes in the next few weeks.'"

"Meanwhile, financial-aid officers worn thin by months of chaos in the federal-aid system will have to put in even more work to clean up the department’s latest mess. 'It’s the difference between pushing a button' Maglione said, 'versus making thousands of keystrokes.'"

... "Samantha Hicks, assistant vice president for financial aid and scholarships at Coastal Carolina University, expressed frustration after the announcement about batch corrections went out. 'This one,' she posted on X, 'has just about broken me.'"

"Hicks later told The Chronicle that about 200-250 incoming and returning students at Coastal Carolina have FAFSAs that need a correction. 'That doesn’t sound terrible, but it’s July 30th,' she said, 'and this is not something that we have a practice of doing. So now it’s creating a new process, learning the ins and outs of how to do it, making sure my staff is able to do it. And anytime you do manual work, there’s room for human error.'"

"Hicks described a deeper concern. Like many financial-aid officers, she has found herself questioning whether she can trust what she hears from the federal government. 'We’re not upset at the work — we can handle hard work,' she said. 'But if the system is broken bad enough on July 30 that you’re not going to have this available for a full year, you can’t tell me you didn’t know that in June. That lack of transparency, it’s just frustrating.'"

"Finally, Hicks, who was a first-generation college student, said she shares the widespread concern that some students still waiting for corrections will 'get so frustrated that they say, ‘I’m bowing out.’ It’s just a very vulnerable population. So I worry that they don’t have the resources to know that there are ways to work through this.'"

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: 7/30/2024