Nationwide financial aid delays cause concern for Sacramento students. ‘No time to decide’

C.K. McClatchy High School senior Jamarie Crawford is anxiously waiting for answers.

He’s preparing be the first in his family to go to college. He’s applied to several California State universities, and even Gonzaga University in Washington.

But he doesn’t know where he’ll attend in the fall.

In order to determine which university is best for him, Crawford needs to know how much financial assistance he’ll receive. There’s no way he can pay for college on his own, he said.

But due to a systematic calculation error with this year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, more commonly known as FAFSA, Crawford, along with million of students, don’t know much aid they’re getting. And they won’t know until a month or two before the deadline for their big decision.

Because of this uncertainty, students feel like their futures are in limbo.

“It gives us no time to decide where we want to go,” Crawford said. “It’s like they’re playing with our futures.”

The U.S. Department of Education is working to fix the mistake that will allow an additional $1.8 billion in federal aid to be available. The DOE originally miscalculated how much students could potentially receive. It’s an error that would have given students and families less aid.

The Department of Education said colleges won’t receive financial aid information until the beginning of March. Crawford expects to learn how much aid he’ll receive in April, but most colleges require students to declare their intent to enroll by May. After having to navigate FAFSA delays, Crawford wondered: “Is this even going to work?”

A delay in FAFSA availability

A planned revamp of the form and additional time to correct the application error messed with the timeline of the form’s availability. Students couldn’t begin to complete their forms until the last weekend of December, said Karen McCarthy, the vice president for public and federal relations of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

In the past, institutions would begin to have these applications in October, and financial aid information would be shared with families. Colleges have yet to receive any processed forms, McCarthy said. The Department of Education has reported that more than 3 million applications have been submitted.

McCarthy said delays nationwide have resulted in a “crunched timeline” for institutions to send out offers and for students to make a “well informed decision.”

Andrea Montgomery, a counselor at C.K. McClatchy High School, said their student body depends on FAFSA. Without it, higher education isn’t viable, she said. Not only are students and families relying on aid to cover tuition, but room, board and other additional costs.

“The majority of our students are counting on financial aid in the form of grants and scholarships to make college affordable,” Montgomery said. “It’s very rare that I meet with a family and college is covered.”

To accommodate FAFSA delays, colleges have extended their intent to register deadlines. The California State University system and the University of California are giving students until May 15.

Noelia Gonzalez, the systemwide director for financial aid programs for the California State University system, said their goal is to let students know their FAFSA eligibility sometime between late March and early April. Gonzalez said the biggest concern is that students will not have the information needed to decide where to attend.

In an attempt to make matters better, Gonzalez said they are “working diligently” with the Department of Education and the California Student Aid Commission to send out award letters “as soon as possible.”

A change in the system and its domino effect

Montgomery said these FAFSA delays have been a “bad situation for everyone involved.” While students are facing roadblocks, financial aid officers have also had to reckon with form adjustments and software changes.

One of the biggest huddles has been that the new FAFSA form replaced the “estimated family contribution” and with a “student aid index.”

But students and parents are confused on what that means. In the past, parents have been informed how much they are expected to pay based on a family’s income, investment and savings. With the new system, the student aid index is calculated on a “needs-based” analysis. The DOE said this number will not be a dollar amount of how much families will pay out of pocket.

“They say your student aid index isn’t the money we think you should pay out of pocket, but my student aid index is 2.5 times higher than my expected family contribution,” said Montgomery, who is also helping her child apply to college. “Having a number and not knowing what it means or how it relates to what we can expect (to pay and receive) is extremely frustrating.”

FAFSA delays will have a domino effect for other financial aid packages. Awards like the Pell Grant, which is awarded to undergraduate students, and Cal Grant, which is specifically for community college and California State university students, will also take longer to reach students.

“They’re going to have to pay out of pocket for enrollment fees,” said Angela Brady, the financial aid supervisor at Cosumnes River College. “Not knowing what their Pell Grant eligibility looks like is going to be tough.”

Community college students who are dependent on financial aid programs will have less time to budget their money, Brady said.

Despite the continuous delays, college officials encourage students to not give up hope. They recommend students keep in contact with the financial aid offices to colleges they applied to and to keep an eye on deadlines.