Survey Shows How Issues with New FAFSA System are Affecting Students

Higher Education Associations Highlight Challenges with New FAFSA System

In an effort to shed light on the challenges faced by institutions with the new FAFSA system, ACE, along with EDUCAUSE and the National Association of College and University Business Officers, conducted a survey targeting various stakeholders at member colleges and universities. The results of the survey, which received 358 responses with financial aid officers being the majority of responders, were sent to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on March 28.

Two key concerns emerged from the findings. The first concern revolves around the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailbox updates. While 80 percent of respondents had updated their mailboxes, many institutions faced challenges due to technological limitations, lack of guidance, and staffing issues. The second concern highlighted in the survey was the timely processing of Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs), with 67 percent of respondents expressing doubts about their institutions’ ability to process ISIRs within a few weeks.

In response to these challenges, 47 percent of respondents indicated that their institutions would be adjusting May 1 deadline dates, with 13 percent already having done so. Secretary Cardona also sent a letter to state governors urging them to push back state financial aid application deadlines.

Unfortunately, the problems with the new FAFSA system continue to mount. Calculation errors have rendered hundreds of thousands of submitted forms unusable, and students will not be able to make corrections or adjustments to their FAFSA forms until the first half of April. Some institutions are also experiencing technical errors in tax information automatically populated in the form.

The associations behind the survey are urging the Department of Education to take immediate steps to address these concerns and to be transparent with the higher education community throughout the process.