Ongoing FAFSA issues stress Hoosier families as state priority filing deadline approaches
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With the Indiana priority filing deadline less than one week away, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid process remains stifled with issues. Students trying to file the FAFSA are still experiencing glitches with the new form, while students who’ve already filed have yet to receive college financial aid offers.
Allison Kuehr, associate commissioner for marketing and communications for the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, said the state agency is telling students to check their email frequently for financial aid package availability.
“The commission along with our higher education institutions are doing the best that they possibly can with the information they’ve been provided by the federal government to get the information that students need as quickly as possible,” she said.
The problems stem from the rollout of the new FAFSA form released late last year. The FAFSA Simplification Act passed in 2020 required an overhaul of the federal student aid process starting with the 2024-25 award year. Changes to the new form include fewer questions that are assigned to either student or parent. The application also pulls tax information directly from the Internal Revenue Service instead of asking families to enter those details.
“For students who are able to breeze through it, a lot of students are saying it takes them a matter of minutes to get done versus up to an hour,” Kuehr said.
However, the new form was released three months later than usual, and there have been glitches ever since, adding to the backlog. William Wozniak—vice president of communications and student services for INvestEd, a Carmel-based not-for-profit organization focused on helping Hoosiers get a post-secondary education—said the disruption is frustrating for everyone involved.
“Any glitch, any hurdle, any speed bump that occurs makes us nervous because we don’t want families, especially the families that need help the most, we don’t want them to get frustrated and walk away,” he said.
New form complications
The FAFSA, which is used to determine federal and state financial aid, is usually available on October 1, but the 2024-25 form didn’t come out until December 30. Even then, it was only sporadically accessible; full 24/7 availability didn’t occur until January 8.
In addition, changes and glitches slowed down the filing process, including a last-minute inflation update, inaccurate tax information, calculation errors and difficulties for students with undocumented parents without Social Security numbers.
In Indiana, a new state law requiring all high school seniors to file the FAFSA is further complicating the process. Parents and students can sign waivers to opt out, or the school can waive the requirement if they’ve made at least two reasonable attempts to contact the family. The CHE’s goal is for 60% of the class of 2024 to file the FAFSA by April 15. Beyond that date, financial aid is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
“We have an appeals process that students can fill out should they miss that deadline. The bottom line is we just want students to file,” said Kuehr. “We know this is an unusual year, so if that date does pass, don’t give up hope. Get the application in.”
According to the National College Attainment Network’s FAFSA Tracker, nearly 34% of Hoosier high school seniors have submitted the form as of March 29, compared to 35% nationally. That’s more than 30,000 submissions in Indiana, around 6,000 fewer than last year. However, Kuehr offered a positive spin on the data.
“Indiana is second in the nation for percent change year over year [as of March 29]. So even though all states are down, Indiana is one of the least down compared to all 50 states. That helps us to see that we’re closing the gap in FAFSA filing compared to 2023,” she said.
In southwest Indiana, almost 1,670 FAFSAs have been submitted by the class of 2024 as of March 29 in Vanderburgh, Warrick, Spencer, Gibson, Perry, Pike, Posey and Dubois counties. That’s about 270 fewer submissions than last year. The top high schools include North and F.J. Reitz in Evansville and Castle in Newburgh. The bottom high schools include Wood Memorial in Oakland City, New Tech Institute in Evansville and Northeast Dubois Jr/Sr in Dubois County.
‘Colleges don’t have the information they need’
At this point in April, if the normal FAFSA timeline was in play, Wozniak said some families would still be finishing up filing, but the majority would have filed between October and March. Colleges would be sending out financial aid offers, and students would be choosing which institution to attend in the fall.
“This year, because of all the glitches and the delays and the corrections they can’t make, the state doesn’t have all of the information it needs, and the colleges don’t have the information they need to do these award letters. It is backing up the entire process,” said Wozniak.
Some colleges have recently started relaying financial aid information to families. Others are estimating when their financial aid offers will go out.
“With FAFSAs just being released to schools starting in late March, [the University of Evansville] has processed and begun sending financial aid offers to students,” Noah Alatza, UE chief communications officer, said in a written statement.
The University of Southern Indiana plans to begin delivering financial aid packages during the week of April 22.
“We are sending updates to students and their families as information becomes available. We encourage students and their families to contact the student financial assistance team for support and updates,” Joanna Riney, director of student financial assistance at USI, said in a written statement.
Indiana State University’s target for financial aid offers is late April. Vincennes University is aiming for mid-April and working to grant as many scholarships upfront as possible in the meantime.
“By proactively identifying and awarding scholarships, VU aims to ensure that every student can pursue their academic aspirations without delay or undue financial strain,” Marcia Martinez, director of public relations, news and social media for Vincennes University, said in a written statement.
Some colleges are also pushing back enrollment deadlines. Purdue University and Indiana University have extended deadlines until May 15. The new date for USI, ISU and Ball State University is June 1.
‘We can’t see anything’
State outreach coordinators, not-for-profit resources and high school counselors are trying to help Hoosier students with FAFSA issues, but they’re facing challenges, too. Instead of being able to see which students have filed, counselors can only view the number of students who have submitted FAFSA forms. Without this information, counselors can’t target students who need help filing or making corrections.
“We can’t see anything. And, normally, what I do at this point is I can see who has filed. I have access to see if they filed the wrong year. I’m calling students in at that point, and we’re having those conversations.” said Lisa Noble, school counselor at Tell City Jr.-Sr. High School.
Noble said she worried some students will get frustrated and abandon the process altogether.
“When you look back at the fall of 2024, and I think in three years we will know, how will enrollment look for this year? How many kids are going to not go [to college] because of this delay? I’m afraid a lot of people are going to say, ‘I’m not gonna go. It’s not worth it,’” she said.
Last year, about 54% of Indiana high school seniors filed the FAFSA, leaving $76 million in federal financial aid on the table, according to NCAN.
“If even more money’s left on the table this year, what does that mean legislatively for funding? Will that money get shuffled somewhere else?” said Noble.
Annie Alcorn, school counselor at Tecumseh High School in Lynnville, is concerned some students will have to forego their first college choice.
“They might choose less expensive schools when they could get into some of the more elite schools because they just can’t wait to get information to find out if they can afford [the more elite schools],” she said.
Alcorn said many of her students are still undecided, which is delaying their preparations for the fall.
“That’s stressful for a student who’s going to be going to school in a few months, and they still haven’t made a choice because they don’t know what the best option is for them,” she said.
‘Call our team’
Students and families can find updates on open and resolved issues with the new form on the FAFSA website. Beyond Indiana’s April 15 priority deadline, the federal application deadline is June 30.
“The federal student aid does do a good job about providing real-time updates of the glitches that students are experiencing, but also when those glitches will be fixed,” said Kuehr. “We try to keep that constant contact going with students to remind them [of these updates]. So maybe if they did step away, they can go back in and complete what they started.”
The CHE is executing a FAFSA awareness campaign that includes emails, letters and social media posts reminding students about the April 15 deadline and offering tips on completing the form. Resources like Learn More Indiana provide connections to regional outreach coordinators who can help students and families with the FAFSA. Zach Cullum is the senior outreach coordinator in the southwest region.
“We’ve also been telling students to look at potentially some other financial aid scholarship grant opportunities outside of state and federal aid,” Kuehr said. “If there are community-based scholarships, things like that, they may not necessarily need a FAFSA on file to apply to those different aid opportunities.”
Students and families can also email or call INvestEd at 317-715-9007 for FAFSA assistance.
“This year, more than any other year, the phone calls, the emails, the help that we’ve given across the state is higher than ever because so many more families are having difficulty getting through this process,” Wozniak said. “The most direct way is for a family to call our team of seven experts that are sitting by the phone waiting to help.”
Wozniak said the ultimate goal is to get students and families filed and let them know they’re not alone.
“They call us and say, ‘Why can’t I get this done?’ And we say, ‘That box that’s grayed out? You should be able to click that.’ They say, ‘But I can’t.’ And we say, ‘Correct.’ They say, ‘So it’s not just me.’ We say, ‘No,’” Wozniak said. “We want to reassure people and get them to the best place possible, but then let them know that they are in the best place possible. They’ve done everything that they possibly can.”