TYLER, Texas — The U.S. Department of Education gave the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, a long-awaited makeover this year. The goal was to simplify the form, but the changes have brought delays and confusion.
Now, many students are still left wondering when they’ll hear about financial aid opportunities.
"To date, as of yesterday we had received maybe 3,800 ISIRs (institutional student information records), which is about a quarter of where we were last year at this time. So not that many," said David Barron, vice president of enrollment management at UT Tyler.
College students are having to wait much longer to hear about financial aid opportunities as compared to years past. Changes to the FAFSA application have set universities a ways back. Updates that were supposed to simplify the entire process have instead proven to be troublesome and difficult to work with.
"The reduction, right, from 130 questions to 30 questions, or 38 questions, is a big reduction in what the students have to do. So that’s good. It was all about the implementation and the process that is problematic," Barron said.
People all around the country are having problems with FAFSA, and of course, East Texas is no exception. One UT Tyler student said that she filled the application out in December, has not heard anything about it since, but at least the form was easier to fill out.
"It was a lot faster and it covered the general topics, and it was nice that they had the parents fill out a form as well rather than just the students to get kind of both points of view. But it was a lot easier and time manageable if that makes sense," said Claudia Provencher, a freshman at UT Tyler.
In a typical year, students who filled out their applications on the early side like Provencher would start hearing back about financial aid offers in January. This year though, Barron said they hope to start rolling them out by mid-April. To compensate for that, the university is pushing its priority deadline date from May 1 to June 1.
"The end result is going to be -- folks are going to get more grant money to pay for education so that’s a positive overall. But right now, I mean, it would’ve been great if maybe they delayed it another year until they got it right. But we’re in the situation we’re in, so we’re going to do what we can to help the students be successful," Barron said.
In a statement, Dr. Lee Furbeck, Stephen F. Austin State University vice president for enrollment management, said students are encouraged to complete and submit their FAFSA as soon as possible. Colleges and universities, including SFA, started getting a limited amount of FAFSA data late last week.
"At this point, and speaking generally, students who have filed the FAFSA should expect to receive more specific information from institutions sometime in April," Furbeck said. "Students and supporters are encouraged to reach out to the institutions they are considering with any additional questions about timelines and deadlines.”