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Students Anxiously Await New Student Aid Rules
Will the Department of Education ’ s December debut of the simplified FAFSA form meet expectations or receive an F ? By Jennifer Lea Reed
IT MIGHT BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT TO SAY THE UNITED States hasn ’ t won any prizes to date for its ability to bring large-scale software releases to the public on either a state or federal level . Who can forget trying to file for unemployment benefits or schedule a first vaccine jab during the Covid-19 pandemic ? Or the failed launch of Healthcare . gov in 2013 ?
So what are the chances that the third time ’ s a charm when the Department of Education ( DOE ) rolls out its simplified Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA ) in December ?
“ You can take it to the bank that site ’ s going to crash the first day ,” says Heidi Huiskamp-Collins , a financial advisor in Bettendorf , Iowa . “ And we don ’ t even have clarity which day that will be . They say December , but the 1st ? The 31th ?”
Whenever that rollout occurs ( already two to three months behind the usual October 1 FAFSA form release ), approximately 17 million-plus students will be affected — as will their parents and some of their financial advisors . But the potential for breakdown does not end there , sources say . Colleges , which typically offer early action and early decision spots beginning in December , may either have to issue acceptances without financial aid packages or delay notifying students of their intentions .
“ The big takeaway is that the high school class of 2024 are definitely guinea pigs ,” says Brad Baldridge , college funding specialist and CFP at Baldridge College Solutions in Milwaukee . “ Everyone ’ s going to have to have a lot of patience . It ’ s going to be hard for the colleges to be ready . They won ’ t even learn about the changes they need to make to hook the computers together until the summer .”
And on top of that : Huge changes are coming this year to the way financial aid is calculated , and those changes are already being misinterpreted , he says . “ There are a lot of little details that can really change the picture on paying for college ,” Baldridge says . “ And many financial advisors are spreading misinformation already . Those who have used a reasonable rule of thumb in the past are going to find out very soon it no longer applies .”
Some of those changes affect exactly the kind of families who would have a financial advisor : Business owners , for example , now have to find a valuation for their business ; families in high-tax states won ’ t get a tax credit , and there ’ s no longer a FAFSA “ multi-student discount ” for families with more than one child in college concurrently .
There ’ s no doubt that students and their families — the demand side of the higher education equation — will face uncertainty as they navigate paying for college in 2024 . But that ’ s nothing compared with what the colleges are facing , Huiskamp-Collins says .
“ The colleges are going to be terrified if the rollout doesn ’ t go smoothly ,” she says . “ Students have been
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