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New FAFSA Format Leads to Delays in 2024 New FAFSA Format Leads to Delays in 2024

By Jordan Leonard

Sean Dempsey: Probably an hour or two maybe, I had to have help with my parents and things like that. There are a lot of different forms you have to go through. And it’s definitely a very long and tedious process.

Jordan Leonard: That was what it was like to fill out the old Free Access to Federal Student Aid, otherwise known as FAFSA. However in 2020, the federal government passed the FAFSA Simplification Act to make it simpler for Students to apply for aid. The US Education Department took 4 steps to make it easier. However, this Simplification is not off to the best start.

Jordan Leonard: FAFSA has been pivotal to put students in desks like these at college for years, however delays this year in FAFSA are causing a host of problems.

Jordan Leonard: The opening of the applications have gone on as usual and the process is much easier, but the return of how much aid one gets has been delayed until at least March 1st and in some cases into April. A big deal for lots of students who rely on Aid to pick schools.

Sean Dempsey: It was definitely really important. I applied to a bunch of different schools that were maybe on the expensive side so when debating my options I went ED to Syracuse but if I didn’t get any aid from them I would have considered going elsewhere.

Luke Burgess: I know a lot of people might just say when the student aid rolls it around it rolls around and just commits to college cause you want to get that big milestone out of the way. But I think for some people it’s definitely going to delay the decision.

Jordan Leonard: Jordan Leonard, NCC News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Each year the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) makes college affordable for over 10 million students, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The 2024-25 college cycle is no different, more than 17 million students are projected to complete the FAFSA in anticipation of attending a school next fall.

This process of filling out the FAFSA in the past has been an arduous  and time consuming process with involvement from both the student and the parent.

“Probably an hour or two maybe, I had to have my parents help with different parts,” Sean Dempsey, a junior at Syracuse University said when he was filling out the FAFSA before college. “There are a lot of different forms you have to go through and it’s definitely a very long and tedious process.”

However, that process was set to become easier. In 2020, the federal government passed the FAFSA Simplification Act to make it simpler for students to apply for aid. The U.S. Education Department took four steps to make it easier on the applicants.

1. Replacing the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) with the Student Aid Index
2. Modification to Family Definition in FAFSA Formulas
3. Expanding Access to Federal Pell Grants
4. Streamlining the FAFSA Form

For more details click here.

The new form has made the FAFSA process smoother, but the main problem are the delays in the return of financial aid information. Schools won’t receive information on how much money students qualify for until at least March 1st, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

This has a huge impact on students deciding which schools are affordable to attend next year before the May 1st, 2024 decision deadline.

“It [FAFSA] was definitely really important,” Dempsey said. “I applied to a bunch of different schools that were on the expensive side, so when debating my options if I didn’t get any aid from Syracuse I would have considered going elsewhere.”

“I know a lot of people might just say when the student aid rolls around, it rolls around and just commits to college cause you want to get that big milestone out of the way,” Luke Burgess, a sophomore at Syracuse University, said. “But I think for some people it’s definitely going to delay the decision.”

The delays on financial aid has led some Massachusetts schools to postpone their deposit deadline. Today, UMASS Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell extended their deadlines to June 1st, 2024.

For more information on everything FAFSA.

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