Educators and parents worried as FAFSA deadline approaches
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — April 15 is the state deadline for high school students to apply for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The deadline is not being moved despite problems with the U.S. Department of Education’s rollout of a new FAFSA website.
The site was supposed to debut in October, but was pushed back to January.
INvestED, a nonprofit that helps students get a post-secondary education with minimal debt, is receiving several complaints from parents.
INvestED Vice President of Marketing Bill Wozniak said the problems ranged from student financial data being calculated incorrectly, to parents being unable to log in and sign off on documents.
“Even the FAFSAs that were mostly done have been sending information to the colleges and the states that aren’t completely accurate, which makes it extremely difficult for the colleges to do their work because only some of the information they have is accurate,” said Wozniak.
Completing a FAFSA form determines how much loan, grant, or scholarship money students are eligible for.
Indiana passed a law requiring all Hoosier high school seniors to complete a FAFSA form after 65 million dollars were left unclaimed in Indiana in 2022.
Wozniak said even an incomplete application is better than nothing.
“We’re trying to get families to file as much as they can, no matter what glitches there are by April 15, so that it is time stamped,” said Wozniak. “The state knows that they got that application in.”
Several colleges pushed their enrollment deadlines back to give students more time to work through the financial aid troubles.
IU Bloomington and Purdue both moved their deadlines to May 15. The University of Indianapolis and IU Indianapolis, formerly known as IUPUI, moved their deadlines to June 1.
Butler still has May 1 as its deadline, but according to its website It will refund the enrollment deposit through June 1. The amount of financial aid a student is eligible for often determines where they will attend school.
Chalkbeat Indiana reporter M.J. Slaby said some students and parents may get frustrated over how difficult the process is.
“I think that is the concern of a lot of educators is that maybe students are going to throw up their hands and say, ‘Well, I’m not going to go,’ or make a decision they wouldn’t make otherwise.”
State aid is disbursed on a first-come, first-served basis, and is prioritized for those who complete the FAFSA form.