"Applying for college financial aid was never easy. But the botched rollout of the federal financial aid form last year added to the headaches. And now, the Education Department has announced that the form for the 2025-26 school year will be delayed by two months," The New York Times reports.

..."Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said that while 'nobody is pleased” with the delay, the plan for “robust and transparent' testing was encouraging.

The association and other groups had pushed for an Oct. 1 release, but told the department in a letter in July that thorough testing and a delay to Dec. 1 was preferable if it resulted in a “reliable, functional” FAFSA.

There are concerns, however. For instance, the department said that even with the form arriving in December, colleges still would not be able to make necessary corrections to submitted FAFSAs in batches, at least not right away. Rather, they must process them individually, a time-consuming process.

'It was disappointing,' Ms. McCarthy said, noting that some colleges must submit thousands of corrections, which might include adding missing signatures, fixing a mis-typed number or updating a family’s income."

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: 9/6/2024