Crazy. National reply date needs to be pushed back to 6/1
This feels like a nightmare you can’t wake up from.
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Schools can’t do that in a unified manner because of collusion. DOJ’s successful NACAC lawsuit is still fresh on everyone’s minds.
Well it’s going to have to get done one way or another. A lot of people won’t be able to decide until they have the info financially they need.
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I am not sure how many students we are talking about because:
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CSS profile schools will be able to give out packages.
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The vast majority of FAFSA only schools do NOT care what a student’s SAI is because A) they don’t meet need and B) they are generally giving away non-need based money. Call it merit, call it discounting…they can still give out packages. They know what the parameters are for Pell grants and can estimate that. They will ultimately get that money from the Feds.
Some students will be impacted/delayed where there is a need component to whatever institutional aid a given school is considering for a given student.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some relatively less selective schools move to a June 1 enrollment date but many won’t because they don’t need to and/or they don’t want to risk overenrolling.
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I’ll ask about another group impacted by this delay. Many local scholarships also have a need component and require that a copy of the FAFSA or SAR be sent with the application. Hopefully this will all get resolved for students applying for these scholarships as well.
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And what about ED2 decisions? Those are mostly in February I believe, and you’re supposed to receive your aid package within 10 days of a decision.
Most of those are CSS schools, no? They should be able to give out packages…@kelsmom?
Seems they are going to need to get creative now. A non-profit that I have worked with requires tax returns, so seems like they could use that if they still want their aid $ to go to those with need. Nothing is perfect, not even FAFSA/SAI.
Well…ED1 decisions were sent out with anticipated aid packages. So it seems like ED2 should be able to as well.
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Based on CSS? I guess I wonder, assuming the schools have to then wait for FAFSA, whether they’ll have to give kids an out if they come in different?
Any college using the CSS Profile is awarding the bulk of their need based aid (institutional aid) based on the data provided on the Profile…which is a much deeper dive than the FAFSA anyway.
My understanding is that the college financial aid departments have been given a little direction on Pell Grant eligibility…and therefore can estimate that.
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Absolutely. And that is true every year.
As I guess I’m more wondering whether amounts will be more different than usual owed to all this.
A CSS school can definitely provide an estimated aid package using Profile information. They won’t know Pell, but they can estimate Pell or award an institutional grant that can be swapped out for Pell later. I think that the CSS schools will have an easier time with this.
Verification will be done in a compressed timeframe. The financial aid community was hoping that FAFSA Simplification would lead to fewer selected for verification. To be on the safe side, though, NASFAA is proactively asking for some relief of administrative burden (although whether it is granted and what that might look like is unknown).
The biggest issue I see ahead is professional judgment. It can’t be done until the schools get FAFSAs. Hopefully, they will get out ahead of it & post their PJ information beforehand. For example, if you want to request A, you’ll need X, Y and Z (so get it together in case you think you will be requesting a PJ). But they will still have to collect the information, review everything & make a determination. Most PJ requests require a lot of time & effort on the part of the aid office. Schools can be and ARE fined if they don’t document every single detail.
On top of everything, it’s no secret that financial aid offices are short staffed. They have typically been short staffed in general. But many experienced financial aid professionals have chosen to retire, leaving a void of experience. Financial aid workers are overworked and seriously underpaid, which doesn’t help with hiring and retention.
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We’ve already gotten one FA package from a CSS school, with estimated pell. If the CSS schools guess wrong and get less pell money for him than expected, I would expect they’d make up the difference themselves since they calculate family contribution based on their own formula. I’ve calmed down a lot since seeing the first FA package, but I remain a little stunned by what a mess this is.
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For a school that meets need, that’s exactly what they are likely to do. For a school that doesn’t meet need it could be a very different situation.
And agree - it’s a complete mess. I’ve been in touch with S23’s FA office to make sure they have everything they need from us (CSS, tax return, etc) since it shows in pend/review status and they don’t expect to have packages out until the summer (for returning students).
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I’m wondering if this will also impact waitlists as kids make decisions later than usual.
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My kids applied to a CSS school that doesn’t guarantee full need.
Do they have the leeway they need to launch or not?
Yes. The main place where it’s likely to be an issue for us is comparing costs between privates and his in-state public option.
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I’m (cynically? or maybe just realistically) wondering if this will make a difference at CSS schools that meet need but are need aware…not knowing exactly how expensive a given student will be since they don’t know what to expect in federal aid yet when making admissions decisions.