Embattled university administrators received welcome news last Thursday when the Department of Education announced an abrupt change in direction. Days after saying it would not reprocess most financial aid applications (about 20% of millions of applications) that were marred by tax issues, the department announced that it would indeed reprocess them. It was just another turn in the roller coaster of mistakes and missed deadlines that have marred the rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA).
“I wake up every morning wondering what updates I'll get today,” said Eric Nichols, vice president for enrollment management at Loyola University Maryland.
The launch of the FAFSA has been plagued by a series of delays and technical issues that have shaken confidence in the agency among college administrators, students and families. Around this time each year, universities are typically finalizing upcoming classes ahead of the May 1 commitment deadline. However, many students have postponed that deadline and are only now starting to send financial aid awards to students. This process usually begins in January. At the same time, applications from high school seniors have declined, raising concerns nationwide about a possible decline in enrollment.
College financial aid professionals and other administrators, as well as their representatives in Washington, D.C., are frustrated by the persistent errors, glitches and lack of transparency from the department.
“There is definitely a credibility issue,” said John Fansmith, senior vice president for government relations and national engagement at the American Council on Education. “That's because they keep slipping. Because errors keep being announced. Because people can't trust what they're hearing. I don't think there's any intent to deceive, but the problem is just a constant one. I am.”
Nichols said it will be difficult for the department to regain the trust of financial institutions during this fiscal aid cycle, but he appreciated the steps taken last week to address errors in the way tax information was transferred to forms. Stated. The department also relaxed some regulatory requirements and postponed key reporting deadlines in response to the FAFSA crisis. That helps, but Nichols said the next fiscal aid cycle, scheduled to begin Oct. 1, must be smooth if the department wants to regain the trust of financial institutions in the long term.
But for now, universities are in a difficult situation. Faculty need to revise forms and meet important deadlines next week. The department announced that by April 15, it will begin reprocessing student records affected by a tax issue that incorrectly transferred information from the Internal Revenue Service to a form, leading to incorrect calculations of aid. This tax glitch affected the Institutional Student Information Records (ISIR) that are created when the department processes a student's FAFSA. The university uses his ISIR to determine aid eligibility and package financial aid benefits.
The ministry also said students can amend rejected applications during a key deadline in the first half of April. Approximately 20 to 30 percent of the FAFSAs they receive are rejected for various reasons unrelated to tax issues, and no applications can be made until the problems are corrected, according to university administrators.
This number, combined with applications denied for other reasons, means that approximately 40% of all FAFSAs are effectively unusable until revised or reprocessed.
Nichols and others are skeptical of the department's assurances that students will be able to update their forms by April 15. Previously, the department said students could revise their FAFSA by mid-March.
“The department's top priority is to provide schools and students with the information they need to collectively receive aid offers and make important admissions decisions as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said in a statement. Inside Higher Ed. “Although the Better FAFSA is easier and simpler for many families, we recognize that implementing this new system comes with certain challenges.”
Justin Drager, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), said on the organization's podcast Thursday that the department is facing a “crisis of credibility,” especially if the department provides more detailed information. After a chaotic week in the rollout, the ministry said it was facing a “crisis of credibility.” tax issues. Seemingly in response to growing criticism, the department last week began sharing daily updates on the FAFSA in a new blog.
The ministry initially announced on Monday that it plans to reprocess and amend ISIRs only for students (about 5% of processed applications) who would receive fewer scholarships because of the error. It is up to universities to individually flag other files for reprocessing, which is already a time-consuming task for administrators. After protests from university administrators, the department withdrew its plans by Thursday.
“We're happy with the results, but why couldn't they just say on Monday that they're going to reprocess everything?” asked Gilles Dejean, senior policy analyst at NASFAA. “When the story changes, it's really hard to believe what's coming out.”
Thursday's initial announcement wasn't entirely accurate either. In it, the department encouraged universities to continue using the incorrect ISIR so they can package aid offers more quickly. However, with subsequent updates, if reprocessing the application would reduce financial aid to the student, schools and states will have to rely on the original version to make their own decisions about which ISIR to use. It became clear that it was possible to lower the Each university received a list of affected and unaffected ISIRs by the end of the week to assist in their efforts.
“As we are in a hurry, we will promptly inform everyone of the information on the blog, and then… [electronic announcement], the information on how to handle reprocessed records was not clear and perhaps inconsistent,” Melanie Storey, director of policy implementation and oversight at the Office of Federal Student Aid, said in a webinar Friday. “I know we're throwing a lot at you guys. We're trying to communicate too much and fail, but sometimes there are conflicts.”
University administrators said they were grateful the faculty listened to them. But the back-and-forth is cumbersome, making it difficult to trust what government agencies are saying on a daily basis, they said. They also took issue with the department's news release on the tax issue, which noted that more than 80 percent of FAFSA applications were unaffected.
“You want to put it in a positive light, but the reality is 20% is worse,” said Brad Barnett, director of financial aid and scholarships and vice president for access and enrollment management at James Madison University. “It's very simple math. We're working with people in the department who want to get this right, and they're not going to make this a bad process. Everyone, including them, is helping. I would like to receive an offer.”
Barnett, like others, said the department's communications throughout the FAFSA rollout made the situation look more optimistic than it actually was, which eroded trust. He said it would be better if there was transparency and a beneficial solution. “And we will work on solutions that we believe are within the true nature of financial aid rules,” he added.
That includes basic things like giving aid based on accurate information. The university's recommendation early last week to use the wrong ISIR to award aid goes against “the way financial aid officers are wired,” Barnett said. Additionally, universities may be subject to penalties if they use incorrect information to award financial aid during audits or program reviews.
The ministry said it plans to begin reprocessing erroneous ISIRs in the first half of April, which would normally begin by April 15. It's unclear how long reprocessing will take, and colleges are understandably nervous about further delaying the long-delayed FAFSA cycle. The ministry said the turnaround time for newly submitted applications is one to three days.
Of course, those caught up in the FAFSA problem are students who are waiting to hear from colleges about what kind of financial aid they can expect. At Friday's open house for admitted students deciding whether to attend JMU this fall, Barnett naturally fielded a number of questions about financial aid packages.
Barnett explained to students and families how JMU is working to make the best of a difficult situation. However, he could not answer many of their questions. He said families have no faith that the department will fix the FAFSA. Some parents asked him about the possibility of no offer of assistance this year. Mr Burnett assured them that was not the case, but said the question revealed the psychology of parents at this stage.
“The best thing for them is to fix this and fix it quickly,” he said. “The longer this goes on, the more problems there are, the longer it takes to fix them, the longer it takes for offers of help to arrive, the more things are discovered, the more trust continues to erode.”
