Students still dealing with drama from last FAFSA, despite positive new data

When Jocelyn Scilipoti filled out the federal financial aid form for the first time earlier this year, she had a clear plan to transfer from Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland to McDaniel College, a private liberal arts school about an hour away.

But those plans unraveled after three attempts to complete the revamped Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA. Each submission was thwarted by some error in the glitchy new form that prolonged the process. By the time she got through it in August, Scilipoti, 19, qualified for less than $2,000 in federal grants.

It was too late by then to apply for more scholarships to fill the gap, she said. And even with a scholarship from McDaniel and a part-time job, she couldn’t afford to enroll this fall.

“I was so ready to go … but then came FAFSA,” said Scilipoti, who is in her second year at Anne Arundel studying sociology. “It’s been tough to see all my friends who do have the money or were able to get the good scholarships go to the four-year colleges, while I got left behind.”

Technical glitches and bureaucratic delays with the 2024-25 FAFSA prevented many students like Scilipoti from completing the application and receiving timely aid offers this year. While newly released data show the hurdles didn’t result in a precipitous decline in college enrollments as predicted, some students and colleges are still contending with the fallout and worry about the next application cycle.

The Education Department is keenly aware of the need to regain public trust in the FAFSA, one of the most critical steps to paying for and enrolling in college. It is conducting extensive tests of the 2025-2026 financial aid form to identify and resolve problems before it is released on Dec. 1, and early findings show the system is working from end to end, according to the department.

Despite the tumultuous rollout of the redesigned application, Education Undersecretary James Kvaal said Tuesday that the number of students on track to receive a Pell Grant – aid for undergraduates with exceptional financial need – is higher than at this point in any of the past six years. Ten percent more students are poised to receive Pell because of changes to the FAFSA formula and 3% more students are poised to receive federal aid this year.

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center on Wednesday also reported continued growth in undergraduate enrollment, driven by students either continuing from last year or returning after dropping out. Many colleges and universities are reporting strong enrollment gains this fall.

Still, the clearinghouse found that fewer freshmen had enrolled. Analysts couldn’t pinpoint the cause but noted that the decline follows continued concerns about costs, changing demographics, the end of race-conscious admissions, a strong labor market and the botched FAFSA.

College and university leaders say all those factors probably contributed to the tepid enrollment of first-year students, but some say the troubled financial aid form played an outsize role at their institutions.

“What is so incredibly frustrating is that we literally know there were students who wanted to come in August, but just couldn’t get (the FAFSA) figured out,” said Susan Burns, president of the University of Mount Saint Vincent, a Hispanic-serving institution in the Bronx.

After a decadelong upward trend of freshman enrollment, the university missed its goal of welcoming 425 first-year students pursuing bachelor’s degrees this fall, as only 327 made it to campus. Overall enrollment at the private university increased, but Burns is still troubled by the loss of so many young people who wanted to come. The Mount is offering an October start date with the hopes of giving would-be freshmen more time to get a clear picture of the financial support afforded through completing the FAFSA.

At Washington State University, the redesigned FAFSA produced mixed results. On the one hand, more students across its six campuses qualified for Pell. On the other, the public university witnessed a drop in enrollment of freshmen and transfer students who would be the first in their families to attend college, said Saichi T. Oba, vice provost for enrollment management.

Oba suspects some of that decline could be attributed to the region’s strong labor market and people questioning the value of higher education. But he noticed a decline in commitments from students amid mounting delays in the Education Department processing the FAFSA. In the end, Washington State eked out a 2% increase in first-year students, but that’s still off from the 4% the university had anticipated.

The lengthy delays in the Education Department processing financial aid forms, sending them off to colleges and permitting corrections made the entire FAFSA process drag on for schools and students.

Roderick Jackson, a senior at the University of North Texas, said he had to pay out of pocket this fall to keep his classes because his financial aid form is still under review at his school. Despite triple-checking the form for errors and completing it early, Jackson was caught up in the bureaucratic mess. He expects to be reimbursed once his financial aid becomes available but said the expense was a setback.

“I’m formerly incarcerated and still trying to get back on my feet,” said Jackson, 33. “It didn’t help that I got another bill that came out of nowhere. It just felt like a hassle when I’m so close to graduating.”

With plans to enroll in law school after graduation, Jackson said he hopes the next FAFSA cycle will be smoother. While there are fewer federal grant opportunities for graduate studies, the financial aid form is still needed to determine loan eligibility and some institutional aid.

Hector Trevino, 22, had to defer admission into the sports management graduate program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst because of delays in processing his financial aid form this year. There was no way to move forward without knowing how much aid he was eligible for, he said. UMass Amherst gave him extra time to commit, but as the start of the semester neared, Trevino was still waiting for his application to be finalized.

“I can’t do this without funding because I don’t have the money to pay out of pocket,” said Trevino, who is saving money working for Washington State Athletics. “It’s not a horrible ending, but this has completely changed the trajectory of my education and where I thought I would be this year.”