A new, simplified application for federal financial aid has been released, with the goal of making the process easier. The new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, became available over the weekend.
USA Today Money and Personal Finance Reporter Medora Lee joined WTOP Anchor Anne Kramer on Monday to talk about the launch of the new form and the reason behind the change.
- Q: The new form is delayed and it's in a soft launch. Were lots of people waiting on this? What was behind the delay?
Medora Lee: It was supposed to come out around Dec. 31, which was yesterday, instead of its usual Oct. 1 day because they revamped it this year. They tried to simplify it to help more people be able to get through the form to get financial aid for college.
So when doing this — and they also revamped the formulas that calculate the financial aid to try to make it so that more middle and low income people could get money for school — they had to take a lot of time to restructure and reformulate their programs. And so that delayed the launch to Dec. 31, or around Dec. 31. So, that’s about three months later than usual.
People were really anticipating this because some colleges have deadlines as early as mid-January for this. So, this has really kind of compressed the whole timeline for people to get financial aid.
- Q: What's changed? I saw your article — 108 questions are now down to 36. How in the world was the government able to do that?
Medora Lee: Part of this was they were going to try to connect the tax forms to the financial aid, so some of this would be automatically populated for people. So, that was really helpful — they just wanted to make it a lot easier.
They also tried to ask fewer questions and require fewer details (from applicants). So that’s supposed to all be very helpful. And it probably will be, if people could access the forms.
They were supposed to have this soft launch where … it would be available periodically if people try to log in. But it turns out that a lot of people haven’t been able to log in. Actually, most people probably haven’t been able to log in and it’s been down. And so a lot of people are still panicked.
I’ve actually gotten some emails already where [applicants are] saying their kid’s form is due Jan. 15; they haven’t been able to log in. People have stayed up all night to keep trying periodically, and they still haven’t been able to get in. So I think even though people are panicked.
People should just kind of take a deep breath. They have to remember that the schools are also aware of this problem and, although no schools that I know of have already moved out their dates for when the forms are due, they are aware of … the problem and there has been precedent where they have moved out the day.
It‘s like during the pandemic; so we’ll have to just kind of wait and see. Don’t stress out yet. But, my recommendation is to get everything you need in order so when you do get in, everything is right there and it’s done correctly the first time.
- Q: I'm hearing from some folks in our newsroom, some of the younger kids who have not been out of college too long. One, in fact, said her dad's an attorney and found this form tough. Now, this is before this new form. So are you seeing light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to how maybe much more simpler this new form will be?
Medora Lee: I think that the new form will be better in the long run. Maybe this is not the greatest year to show it just because of the compressed timeline. But once it gets out there I think more people will be able to get Pell Grants with this new formula that they’re using, and the Pell Grants are great to get because you don’t have to repay them.
So, I think in the long run this will be good. I think this, though, is going to be a little tough ride right now just to get through the new launch.
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