At this point, normally for the Community Bridges College Access Community Based Organization, all or almost all of our students would have submitted their FAFSA, and they would have been processed with an EFC and sent to their colleges. In February, CB would be working with our students on FAFSA errors, issues and verification requirements; on MDCAPS submission for Maryland State aid; and on private and legislator scholarship applications. In a normal year, almost all our students would have their financial aid packages in March. 

This year we have less than ⅓ of our students who have been able to submit and who have SAI estimates in their confirmation emails, and no one has a Submission Summary (replaces the SAR), and no schools have ISIR data for Financial Aid package development. The group that cannot submit includes about ⅕ of our senior class whose parents do not have an SSN and cannot contribute information, consent or provide their electronic signature to the parent portion of the FAFSA. Another ⅕ who have a signature error which cannot be fixed until their FAFSA is fully processed and unlocked for edits.

By now, almost everyone knows it’s not a normal year! 

Here are some ideas the various partners could consider. Some may prove impractical, and I’m sure all are more than inconvenient, but considering where we are, painful steps must be at least given serious consideration. NCAN, NACAC and other advocates have already called for some of these steps. 

COLLEGES

  1. Extend the commitment deadline from May 1, as well as extend associated housing application deadlines. Some colleges have already moved to a commit date of June 1. 
  2. Allow students to submit SAI estimates from their Dept of ED FAFSA Confirmation email. The colleges would only have the one number however, not the full ISIR data. Not sure how the colleges could use it to package. The SAI is also different from the EFCs they received previously so they need some sort of mapping. Without all the data, that may be difficult (the extremes would be easier to sort out – students with high positive SAIs will not qualify for institutional need based aid and students with -1500 SAI will qualify for the significant need based aid. 
  3. Allow students to submit 2022 Tax return copies instead of FAFSA Submission Summaries (which no-one has). I do not know how feasible this is on a large scale or really any scale. How would they get those scans into data fields they can process?  For students whose married or remarried parents don’t file married jointly that is also 2 returns to combine. 

* 2 and 3 could be used for applying to seniors, enrolled students or both. The colleges have the current students on campus which makes communications easier. 

  1. Consider expanding the use of the CSS Profile for HS seniors. Some private colleges use CSS Profile for international students but not domestic (Loyola of Maryland). They could accept the CSS profile for domestic students. It is another form for the student to complete but would allow an estimate. Currently even for students who submit the CSS Profile to a college, the Fafsa data is required to finalize the offer, but the student does receive an estimate.  This may only be practical for a small number of private colleges but it might advance the receipt of their estimated packages for a group of students. 

 

DEPT OF ED 

  1. Ask Dept of Ed. to release student  ISIR data if the student has already received a confirmation email with -1500, the highest need SAI estimate, as they have already qualified for Maximum Pell grant and so cannot be affected by the inflation calculation change.  This would allow the CPS, colleges (and other organizations with interfaces  affected by the Fafsa changes) to begin working with the ISIR/ Fafsa Data in its new format.   Reportedly over 3 million students have been able to submit their Fafsa and have had it processed. Some proportion of those students receive  maximum SAI/full Pell grant.  This would allow colleges to make progress in using the new data – make sure they can process it, before the tsunami of all the Pell applicant student data hits mid-March and would allow MDCAPS for example to begin evaluating who is eligible for GA Grants. 
  2. Similarly, release ISIR data for students with high positive SAIs.  Ed. has some idea where the cutoff is and could err on the side of caution in deciding which to send. But many applicants every year don’t qualify for any portion of the Pell. Why not send those students ISIR data on to colleges. Previously, almost 70% of undergraduates don’t receive any Pell . Again, reportedly 3 million plus students have been able to submit their Fafsa and have it processed – some of that million is not Pell eligible at all even after the inflation change. . 
  3. Ask Dept of Ed to scale back Fafsa verification audits, as they did during Covid; normally audits can be significant proportion, ranging from 22% to 38% in recent cycles. Packages can’t be finalized while audit is in process, which piles on to the delay. 
  4. When the FSAIC can handle calls  and/or when problems are resolved, do some greater and more timely outreach for students and parents on different platforms, or maybe even mass emails.  Send out more updates directly to FSA partners, at least, and students and parents if possible, instead of just posting them on the issue alert list. 
  5. Ask Dept of Ed for greater transparency with issue reporting. We are seeing errors which affect multiple students and which are not reported. Also the reports do not have any information as to the number of users affected, expected timeline to resolve, or priority.  At least share that information with FSA Partner organizations if they don’t have time/bandwidth to share directly with users. 
  6. Revisit the scheduled social media postings. These seem tone deaf and are upsetting to students who are trying to submit and can’t. 

 

STATE EDUCATIONAL COMMISSIONS

  1. State funds are crucial to our students. They can be even more significant than the Pell grant.  These awards are “up to  $____” , not a guaranteed amount. So the priority deadline is an important one, in which the first tranche of applications are processed.   Ask state educational commissions like MHEC to extend priority deadline, for example, to May 1. 
  2. Increased hours for MHEC. Once MDCAPS begins to receive the Fafsa data and student applications for state grants can be processed, students will receive estimated grants and have questions. Typically MHEC stops taking calls at 4:30 pm. Some students are not even home by then, and it is difficult to call from their high schools. 

 

STATE LEGISLATORS / PRIVATE SCHOLARSHIPS that formerly required the Student Aid Report as part of the application

  1. Open up on the typical dates (Jan/Feb/March for most of them), allowing students to work on their legislative scholarships now, using either estimated SAIs if they have a confirmation email or their 2022 tax returns if they do not. Currently no Maryland State legislator scholarship applications have been released. Normally at least some are out in January. 

I have not mentioned the awful possibility that the delay is not just for the inflation correction and that maybe the universe of properly processed FAFSA applications with ready ISIR records is zero. In this case, Dept of Ed is still trying to complete the original rollout as well as complete this significant inflation related change and test it. If that is the case, 6 weeks may still not be enough time to get back on track and the Dept of Ed should break the glass and engage for considerable technical assistance from a reputable systems software development group that has previous experience working with Education functionality and data and will be a partner committed to getting this project back on track. In this nightmare scenario, the colleges may be on their own this year creating financial aid packages with whatever they can cobble together using estimated SAI or tax returns, and the Dept. of Ed would be shooting for the next school year, 2025-26. Dept of Ed’s lack of transparency and out of touch communications suggest this awful prospect is in fact a possibility.  

Written by Jane De Angeli, College Access and Success Director