By Shelly Rufin, MSHS, MSCC, Dr. (Hn)
Founder EDFIN College Planning
College Consultant/FAFSA Expert
Certified WASFAA, NASFAA Title IV Funding
Harvard Business School
32 years serving families, 3,000 plus students
Serving families for three-decades
Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at 9:00 AM
Delays in the processing of FAFSA 2025/26 applications not only impact the timeline for students to submit their financial aid forms but also create a ripple effect that affects the workload of financial aid professionals. As a result, these delays can lead to a backlog of applications, causing financial aid officers to allocate more time and resources to review and process the submissions efficiently.
How FAFSA Delays Affect Financial Aid Students and Families?
With the delay of the new FAFSA form release, financial aid professionals are not able to make corrections in batches, which allows them to process students fast enough. With this being said, aid administrators will be working around the clock to accelerate the process of corrections that need to be made so that offers can be issued and disbursements can be made in a timely manner before the school year is set to begin.
The recent problem with FAFSA forms was described as a "stunning failure" by Beth Maglione, who is serving as the interim president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. She warned that this delay could jeopardize students who rely on these funds to start their classes on time. As a result, schools will need their administrators and officers to work extra hours to ensure that students receive their funds promptly before the semester begins.
"We were really doing five months' worth of work in a span of a few weeks," added Assistant Vice President of Student Financial Services at Saint Louis, Alex DeLonis. Financial aid experts say their job is fulfilling because they help students access college education. However, the recent FAFSA rollout failure is only the most recent obstacle in a field plagued by understaffing and high turnover rates.
According to a NASFAA and CUPA-HR report released recently, it stated that nearly 56% of the 298 financial aid professionals surveyed in 2023 reported being "somewhat" to "very likely" to leave their job in the next 12 months.
Despite the current challenges, financial aid professionals anticipate that next year will present its own set of difficulties, but they are hopeful for a smoother experience compared to this year. Heather Hensgen, a business analyst in UMGC's financial aid systems division, expressed, "I’m sure we’ll experience some issues, but that’s just financial aid. I’m hoping that lessons have been learned and going forward, it will not be as rocky of a rollout as this year was — because this was literally like climbing up Mount Everest."
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EDFIN College Planning Team
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Shelly Rufin, MSHS, MSCC, Dr. (Hn)
32-year FAFSA Expert
College Consultant
Certified WASFAA, NASFAA Title IV Funding
Harvard Business School Alumnus
EDFIN College Planning
Tel: (951) 261-9799
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