Wait. Weren’t we supposed to be able to make changes and add schools to FAFSA early April? Can we do that yet?
Not yet
Just doing the math here. Let’s say it’s another 3-5 days until you can make changes or add schools. Seeing that a million people will be trying to do it at once, let’s say it takes 3-5 days for everybody to access the system and get it done. 2 days to process and send to schools. So 8-12 days before schools get the info, 5-7 to process and send a letter, so 13-19 days. Do a letter in your inbox between the 19th and the 25th… to be acted upon by May 1.
I know a lot of schools have moved the deadlines. But this is crazy.
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And actually my math missed a few spots there. So it’s a bit longer.
And what about appeals for professional judgment? Remember, people didn’t really used to know about that. Now schools are required to tell them.
I strongly suspect that thousands of people requesting professional judgment will be on the wrong side of JUNE 1 deadlines.
Forget MAY 1.
Again, I brought up this question before: What happens if it doesn’t get done?
We are pretty much getting there for some people. If you need to make corrections and your schools are behind and you need professional judgment, it’s awful close to not happening. Sure, a school could keep extending you into July. But not all schools will. So you’ll either have to bail on the school where you are requesting PJ, bail on the schools with harder deadlines, or send in numerous deposits. But if you can’t afford it…
Professional Judgment has often been done long after the acceptance deadlines. There is no way the schools will meet a May 1 or June 1 timeline for that.
I think you just have to take the best deal for you with what you know on the deadline. Definitely less than ideal this year.
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I worked at a large public university that got a lot of PJ requests. Even in a “good” year, when we were fully staffed, we weren’t processing PJ requests yet. This was back when FAFSA wasn’t available until January 1st. We had to review for conflicting information, review C flags for things like being near aggregate loan limit or citizenship issues or other concerns, package aid for new students, help current students with ongoing issues, and package aid for spring/summer term (a manual, time intensive process). PJ just didn’t get to take front seat. I honestly think that the majority of schools have to balance everything & make decisions regarding what gets done first. It was sort of a case of: “This is your aid package. If PJ results in a lower EFC (now SAI), and IF that actually means you’re eligible for increased aid, it’s icing on the cake. But we have to do A, B and C before we can get to PJ.”
Good points. I’ve also been thinking about the predicament this posts for schools moving forward. I mean, yes, I am concerned about my daughter selecting a school based on a financial package that was put together this year (albeit as best as possible by the FA department) based on FAFSA information that may be questionable at best. BUT, I also believe that we have a strong argument we hold onto for the subsequent 3 years that, providing our financial picture doesn’t change, there is a reasonable expectation that the aid package should stay roughly the same. Any fault that we based our school acceptance (and 4-year financial commitment) on numbers from FA that were wrong the first year is certainly not our fault. We could make a strong argument that we have a reasonable expectation that aid in the subsequent years should remain consistent. I’m not saying that it is an easy card to play, but I would also imagine that FA departments are thinking about the commitment on their side now as well.
Do families have a reasonable expectation that (assuming everything else remains consistent) a school will back these packages for 4 years EVEN IF the numbers they used this year end up being wrong? This ‘reasonable expectation’ has been true in the past, and is the basis for many appeals. Why not now?
“Do families have a reasonable expectation that (assuming everything else remains consistent) a school will back these packages for 4 years EVEN IF the numbers they used this year end up being wrong?” No.
There may be some schools that will do it to keep students from leaving. But many schools take the position that financial aid may be variable. For example, I worked at a large public university. One year, our Board of Governors voted to provide aid such that the combination of EFC + grant aid (federal & institutional) would cover the cost of 12 credits per semester. There was no promise that this aid policy would continue beyond that year. While I don’t remember how many years the policy was in place, it was not in place for four years. Funding from the state was reduced, so the school could no longer continue with that policy. Unless a school specifically states that its policy is to keep a financial aid package the same every year, there is no promise. A reasonable expectation is just a reasonable expectation; the school has no obligation to meet expectations.
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Definitely, and I think when making a 4-year commitment to a school that one has to keep that in mind. But with the challenges we have this year, I am wondering if it doesn’t carry an extra burden on both sides. Any other year, some flexibility in awards from year to year should be expected. But this year, both sides have much more financial vulnerability … and it is not the fault of either side.
I hope that the FSA recognizes this and has a procedure in place for the next few years to help those (families and institutions) that get caught in their mess. Reasonable help … not ridiculous 7%+ loans.
Federal aid is regulated by Congressional law, and it is basically impossible for the Department of Education to increase any individual’s aid beyond what it is per the formula in a subsequent year. Any additional aid would have to be provided by the school. This is why the financial aid community was adamant that all FAFSAs affected by processing mistakes be reprocessed. Schools want to give students aid using the correct SAI.
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Anyone have any more guesses about when corrections or edits are going to be allowed? We have to update ours to make a correction that will allow permission to share our tax info…. I’m so nervous that schools are going to create a financial aid package and send it to us without our tax info and essentially give us almost nothing…… And two weeks from now, I’ll be trying to scramble and call them back individually to let them know. I was finally allowed to make a correction.
Does anyone have any idea about whether corrections are going to be available today or tomorrow or Wednesday?
There’s lots of guesses but they’re just that. Your concerns are legitimate but know you’re not the only one in the boat… in fact the boat is close to sinking by the number of people that are in it…
If you’re waiting to see aid packages at 2-3 schools before making final decisions I’d suggest maybe an email to those FAO’s to see how they’re expecting to handle things.
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No news beyond FSA’s previously stated timing of ‘first half of April’. I know it’s no comfort but everyone else who has to make corrections or add schools is on the same timeline.
If you have run the SAI estimators and college NPCs you should have a decent idea of your likely FA at each school, no?
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Yes…except the schools don’t have that info (even though I know what it ‘should’ be). So that’s what I’m worried about… Are they going to put some arbitrary Financial Aid package together without our income data?…. or more logically are they not going to provide us any financial aid, only the offer of loans or maybe merit money? We, and others, should not be in a position where we are not going to get financial aid because we do not have access to make a correction on the FAFSA form.
Are you talking about FAFSA only schools? If so, I would expect merit is the bulk of the aid offer and the school would add any FAFSA federal aid that the student qualifies for (Pell Grant, $5.5K loan, maybe work study), to create final offers.
All schools are going to give final FA offers, it’s just a question of when. You might need to put down a deposit at one school while waiting for FA offers from other schools. Then if you get a better offer, withdraw from the first school and deposit at the second. Things are going to go late this year because of the FAFSA problems and disparate enrollment deadlines.
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Mine have been off by amounts large enough to matter.
One school met our SAI, but the NPC said it would be twice as high.
So you never know I guess.
So true, and some NPCs are less than accurate. Non meet full need schools can and do meet full need for some students.
How do we know if the FAFSA results has been sent to the schools? We couldn’t find anything beyond “processed” on my S24 page. Also, how would we know if S24 FAFSA is one of the problem ones that needs corrections or that the tax information didn’t import correctly (I think that is the newest issue, correct me if I’m wrong). Thanks for any info you can provide.
I think you have to check with the schools to see if they have received your students FAFSA results. My guess is that if you have an error, it says what the error is. So, if neither you nor your student see an error listed, you might not have any. But, even if you don’t have any errors, you may want to add an additional school, and that still can’t be done until they open for corrections. So, we’re all just hanging in limbo.
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Your student may receive an email from the school and/or it may show as being received in their portals. If not, they can call FA and ask.
Since your FAFSA has been processed, there aren’t any errors on your end, like a missing signature. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to know if your FAFSA is one that FSA needs to re-run for the various problems they’ve had.
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