The Education Department is reassuring schools and students that the financial aid process will lead to some colleges saying they have seen enrollment declines after the failed overhaul.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said he was “very confident” households would be able to start applying for federal financial aid just weeks later by Dec. 1. authorities postponed the launch date Two months to December 1 for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2025-26 school year.
We must do better and we will do better.
US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona
The move is aimed at buying more time to test the online form with selected students and schools after months of glitches and delays. has disrupted the college application process for millions of students this year.
“We have to do better and we will do better,” Cardona told NBC News this week. In the future, the application experience “will be simpler – 15, 20 minutes,” he said.
Many higher education officials say the results of months of congestion are already showing in enrollment.
Nearly three-quarters of the 384 private institutions that responded to a recent survey by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities said FAFSA issues have changed the composition of incoming freshman classes.
43 percent said the first-year cohort is smaller than before summary of findings The NAICU has released the survey since July, which it plans to continue until September. An association of 850 schools told NBC News that 18% of respondents said FAFSA problems reduced the racial or ethnic diversity of freshmen, and 27% reported fewer financial aid recipients.
The Education Department recognizes that this year’s FAFSA implementation is “difficult for students, families and postsecondary institutions,” a spokeswoman said in response to the findings, but said the agency could not independently verify NAICU’s unpublished data. “The department will not rest until all eligible students receive the help they need.”
The FAFSA has its challenges decision dates and offers of assistance far exceeded the traditional May 1 date for many students. While most of the issues have been resolved, campus officials say the new date, Dec. 1, must be passed at all costs.
“It is imperative that the department meets the delivery date with a seamless presentation and a fully functional FAFSA. “‘On or before December 1’ should be on or before December 1,” said Mark Becker, president of the Association of State and Land-Grant Universities. said in the statement this month.
I want to close [the] Ministry of Education, transfer education to the provinces.
Former President Donald Trump
The delayed launch means most households won’t be able to start their uniforms until weeks after the presidential election, when the fate of the Education Department is on the ballot.
Former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have suggested its demolition the agency that evaluates students’ eligibility for federal aid — a process many schools rely on to make their offers — and awards Pell grants to low-income undergraduates and federal student loans.
“I want closure [the] Ministry of Education, transfer education to the states” Trump told Elon Musk This month in conversation on billionaire X A GOP donorsocial media platform.
Cardona declined to comment on the election, but said, “We will continue to fight for more students to have access to higher education and to keep them out of debt for the rest of their lives.”
“There were some challenges last year,” he said. “We learned from them.” Meanwhile, he urged applicants to prepare for the 2025-26 academic year by creating an FSA ID. studentaid.gov.
Cardona in May announced a “full scale review”. from the Federal Student Aid office that oversees the FAFSA and promises “transformational changes” to the section. As of this week, officials said they had processed 14.2 million FAFSAs, no backlogs, and completions were down just 2.8% from last year — though the National College Access Network said the drop was even larger. about 10%.
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators praised the Department of Education for listening to administrators’ input and “delivering fall timings ahead of schedule.” But Beth Maglione, the group’s interim president and chief executive, urged the government to fix things at once for the next school year.
“The fact that we’re still dealing with the aftershocks of this year’s FAFSA implementation shows how important it is that the process is thoroughly tested from end to end and implemented as a system, not piecemeal.” he said in the statement this month.
Kristi Childs prepares to fill out the FAFSA with her daughter, Hanalise Yarbrough, 17, who just started her senior year of high school in DeSoto County, Mississippi. Childs said last year he struggled to fill out a uniform for two 19-year-old twins, Madison and Mason Yarbrough, who were sophomores in college, even though the latter took a semester off.
“Hopefully they’re going to iron out the bugs and make it really user-friendly and ready to deliver quickly,” Childs said.
Hanalise hopes to attend Northwest Mississippi Community College for two years before potentially transferring to John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, but said she’s “always kind of worried” about financing college.
“Honestly, I don’t know much about the FAFSA. I took a college and career prep class from my high school, but it all sounded so confusing,” she said.
Hanalise is a flutist “basically riding” on a potential band scholarship, but her mother said they would need federal support.
“We still have all that stuff to make sure we have our dorms, books, food and all that covered,” Childs said, adding that a smooth, timely FAFSA process is “the only way our family can afford it.” put another kid through college.”