The Free Application for Federal Aid will open on Dec. 1 this year, two months later than originally scheduled.
Last year, the federal government rolled out a new version of the FAFSA to make it easier to fill out, but it was marred by technical issues that ultimately delayed students from receiving their financial aid packages and led some colleges and universities to push back their commitment deadlines, which traditionally fall on May 1.
“Last year, I'll just be honest, it was a nightmare,” said Regina Blackshear, associate vice chancellor for student affairs at St. Louis Community College. “You had students waiting, not knowing what their actual aid package was going to be, and they had already selected colleges.”
St. Louis University took extra steps to help prospective and returning students. The school suspended all financial aid deadlines and then rolled out its own form that collected similar information to the FAFSA form in order to give families a better idea of their financing options.
One of the common challenges her students faced was with making corrections to the form, said Cabrina Noonan, college and career counselor at Ritenour High School. She said it delayed the process further because the corrections had to be submitted directly to the U.S. Department of Education and left some students waiting into the late spring and summer to make financially conscious decisions.
To avoid future delays, Noonan said, students and families should start creating their federal student aid IDs now and gather the necessary tax information.
She also recommends that students visit their college or guidance counselor’s office at school.
“Families that are going to be filling out the FAFSA, especially for the first time, have those conversations with your counselors,” Noonan said. “Every one of our schools has a counselor in it, so please reach out to them.”
Families should also figure out who the financial contributors are for the student, said Amie Branch, college and career advisor at Hancock High School.
“For a lot of our students, that gets a little trickier when it comes to divorce, remarriage, child support, incarcerations, [or] when we have families who the legal guardian may not be mom or dad or they have lived with a grandparent for the past 12 years, but have not done anything legally about that, “ Branch said. “Those are the kinds of preparation pieces and conversations that are super important.”
Once students and families have gathered all this information, the form should be a breeze, Branch said.
To help students prepare for the form, college advisers recommend this quick checklist:
- Touch base with your college or guidance counselor at school.
- Identify the financial contributors for the student.
- Make sure contributors have filed their 2023 taxes.
- Create federal student aid ID for both students and parents.
- Set a reminder for Dec. 1 for when the form opens.
