HARRISBURG (TNS) — College students will be arriving on campuses across Pennsylvania in the coming days but some will come with one thing missing — confidence in knowing they have the money to pay their tuition.
The rollout of the new federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, has proven to be a royal mess with all of its delays, glitches and processing errors that have hindered schools’ ability to finalize financial aid packages for students.
Trina Snyder, Shippensburg University’s director of financial aid and scholarships, describes the scene in her office these days as “very chaotic at best” and unlike any she has seen in more than 25 years in the field.
The office phones are ringing off the hook. Students and their families want answers the financial aid office can’t provide. And on top of that, Snyder has a lot of new staff to train because the pressure from the fits and starts and complications surrounding the new FAFSA have driven away many of her employees.
“The FAFSA delays and fiasco just continue to surprise us,” Snyder said.
The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, which administers the state grant program, has been dealing with the collateral damage caused by the glitches, delays and processing errors associated with the FAFSA rollout for months.
PHEAA officials say they typically begin receiving the data from completed FAFSA forms in early October for the following academic year. This year, the agency received it in May, eight months late.
On top of that, the nearly half million records arrived all at once rather than incrementally, hindering the agency’s ability to swiftly process data to determine grant eligibility, which can provide up to $5,750 a year.
Also complicating matters is the application for the state grant was not linked to the new FAFSA as it historically has been to make a one-stop shop for students and families.
PHEAA is working to address this situation by sending out emails to first-time students encouraging them to complete the application for some of the more than $400 million in aid the state is making available through the grant program this year.
Returning students are also receiving emails if they previously applied for a state grant but PHEAA officials say they do not need to do anything unless significant changes to their academic career occurred, such as changing schools.
Additionally, PHEAA is hosting webinars to help students and families complete the state grant application at 6 p.m. Aug. 21 and Aug. 29. Registration for these sessions can be found at pheaa.org/virtual.
“We’re doing everything we can to help students and families,” said Nathan Hench, PHEAA’s senior vice president for public affairs.
PHEAA is encouraging college financial aid offices to use their state grant estimator tool to help tentatively package financial aid based on an assumption that a student is eligible for a grant.
Still, it is not a situation financial aid officers like Snyder – or students – want to be in so close to the start of the new academic year.
“The bottom line is they just want to know what we’re doing to help them pay their bills and not be distracted by that in class,” Snyder said. “We’re doing everything we can to give them more time [to pay their bills] and explaining what’s going on in the process.”
PHEAA’s board leaders — Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Allegheny, the chairman, and Rep Steven Mentzer, R-Lancaster County, vice chairman — sent a letter to their legislative colleagues this week to update them about the situation and explain how the new FAFSA, not PHEAA, is at the root of the problem.
“It is frustrating that PHEAA has dealt with unprecedented challenges this year, including difficulties brought on by the Biden-Harris administration’s mishandling of the FAFSA application process,” said Sen. Scott Martin, R-Lancaster County.
The updated FAFSA was meant to simplify the form, which PHEAA spokeswoman Bethany Coleman said it has done. It just took longer than expected, giving colleges less time to make financial aid offers to students as well as less time for students to decide where to enroll and figure out how to pay for their education.
PHEAA officials told lawmakers the FAFSA-related issue impacting the state grant program this year is expected to continue for several years before the federal Department of Education re-establishes the link. .
Snyder said the best her office can do is keep everyone informed from students to the student accounts office to landlords about the situation.
“Communication is the key here,” she said. “The students are nervous, as expected, but I think that we’re being transparent and being clear with them. What we’re doing, like giving them the credit on the bill, giving bill deferments. I think that’s helping. They understand that a lot of this stuff is out of our control, especially this year.”
