"After a difficult rollout of the Department of Education’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) last year, the application is delayed once again, according to an announcement by the department on Wednesday," Mass Live reports.

..."According to a 2022 survey by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, half of survey respondents said they were operating at a 75% staffing capacity from 2019 to 2021 and another 56% of survey respondents said in a follow-up survey that they couldn’t complete the original survey because they were operating at a reduced staffing capacity.

'They’re doing more than they’ve ever had to do with less people and less resources than they’ve ever had,' said Rotunda, from the National Association of Financial Aid Administrators.

On top of FAFSA delays, Rotunda said financial aid offices are also under additional pressures. She pointed to the federal government’s recent announcement that they wouldn’t be allowing financial aid officers make batch corrections on the 2024-2025 FAFSA forms. Batch corrections allow financial aid offices to make corrections across hundreds of applications, helping to save time. Corrections could include an incorrect data point provided by a high school. The offices will now be forced to individually fix the error on each application.

While the 2025-2026 FAFSA will allow for batch corrections, Rotunda said it won’t happen until after December"

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: 8/13/2024