The rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2024-2025 school year has been marred by delays and technical issues, causing chaos and stress for students, parents, and university officials. The Biden administration is facing criticism for the handling of the FAFSA crisis, with concerns raised about financial aid delays impacting students' ability to pay for college expenses. The redesigned FAFSA form was intended to be easier but has instead led to filing declines and increased workload for financial aid and admissions officers across colleges and universities.
The rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid was beset by delays before and even after the revamped form was released about three months later than usual. https://t.co/hqTXvTiDpE
Botched rollout of redesigned FAFSA leads to steep filing declines for Fort Worth students https://t.co/02vZZ18bjy
The rollout of a new application for federal financial aid is turning out to be chaotic as the form--- which was supposed to be easier--- is plagued with problems. https://t.co/GdYhRgnk8n
Unprecedented difficulties in students applying for federal financial aid have wreaked havoc among financial aid and admissions officers across CA’s colleges and universities, who are facing longer hours and more stress, sometimes while short on staff. https://t.co/xyGiYhgZy6
Financial aid delays are all part of the same continuum of stress for so many students worrying about how they’ll pay rent or put food on the table, way before they even set foot on campus. Thanks @erichoov for putting a human face to this broken system. https://t.co/YbRDq8J7QM https://t.co/qp7KWIGQ3E
My story: How the FAFSA crisis is stoking doubt, anger, and determination at one low-income high school. https://t.co/MHZwqcd9qb
The Biden admin is saving face after they fumbled FAFSA. They had three years to plan, but at the last minute, Biden’s Department of Ed is putting the burden back on families. I’m working to get Iowans the answers they deserve so we never face this fiasco again. https://t.co/VMGXvQ1esl
Feds' FAFSA rollout is a disaster. Texas universities can help. | Opinion https://t.co/R31KuxDtfe
“I think the long term of this application will make it a lot easier." But “because of all of the back-end updates last year, there's been a lot of bugs, a lot of delays as far as getting the FAFSA working.” @csauvageau_1998 and @rociohzz report: https://t.co/xkvvoio5GC
At the end of 2023, the federal government said it would update the FAFSA form ahead of the 2024-2025 school year. Here's what parents need to know: https://t.co/eBFqVpIKEh
ICYMI: @chalkbeat national editor @meltzere discusses how the FAFSA mess is affecting students' college plans for next year (plus more on the new, all-digital SAT): https://t.co/aKYlfxjGII