Incoming president Donald Trump has vowed to .

For students who are eyeing college, his presidency represents a potentially brutal Sophie鈥檚 Choice if they have undocumented parents: Risk exposing them to a possible immigration dragnet by completing the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, or leave thousands of dollars in cash for school on the table. 

While researchers and advocates have yet to hear anything concrete from Trump representatives about using financial aid data to target undocumented residents, they know families are afraid.

鈥淔ront line staff that work directly with students are reporting that students and parents are asking them if the FAFSA is safe鈥� given Trump鈥檚 campaign promises of mass deportation, said Marcos Montes, policy director for Southern California College Attainment Network, a coalition of nonprofits that help students apply for college admission and financial aid.

The National College Attainment Network said those fears are justified. It 鈥渃annot assure mixed-status students and families that data submitted to the US Department of Education, as part of the FAFSA process, will continue to be protected,鈥� a read late last month.

That fear is exacerbated by  that the only way to deport undocumented parents whose children are citizens is to have the whole family leave. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be breaking up families,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淪o the only way you don鈥檛 break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.鈥� How Trump can force out citizens, including those with parents not born in the U.S., is unclear; experts say .

An estimated 3.3 million Californians , including 1 in 5 children under 18, according to data from Equity Research Institute, a USC research group.

A California workaround

Experts say California students eligible for financial aid can minimize the possible harm to their undocumented parents. Unlike the FAFSA, the state aid application is not shared with federal agencies. That policy is  in place under California鈥檚 so-called 鈥渟anctuary鈥� laws  the use of state resources to . Several legal experts told CalMatters the Trump administration would have to clear a high legal bar to gain access to those state records and that court cases have put restrictions on how wide a net immigration enforcement agencies can cast in their search for data. 

Because the deadline for state financial aid is in March 鈥� though there are plans to move it to April 鈥� and the federal deadline , Californians attending college here should complete the state application first, said Montes. Then they should wait to see if the Trump administration will break precedent and begin using the federal financial aid data for immigration enforcement purposes.

That strategy is also endorsed by Madeleine Villanueva, the interim higher education director at Immigrants Rising, a California-based advocacy and research group focused on undocumented residents. She stressed that there鈥檚 a bevy of analysts and immigrant rights advocates who鈥檒l be watching for updates from the Trump administration.

鈥淯nfortunately, we can鈥檛 say what鈥檚 going to happen federally,鈥� she said. But the California state aid application, known as the California Dream Act Application, is an 鈥渆xtra layer of safety when it comes to applying for financial aid.鈥�

The California Student Aid Commission, an agency with the sole goal of getting students more money, suggests students may need to forgo federal aid given the risks to their families. The agency, which runs the state鈥檚 financial aid programs,  that completing just the state aid application is a 鈥渧iable option鈥� for students in mixed-status homes who have 鈥渇ears of adverse action by federal immigration enforcement.鈥�

However, taking a wait-and-see approach with federal aid means California campuses won鈥檛 have a full picture of how much aid a student is likely to get when they send out financial aid estimates to admitted students in the spring. The University of California鈥檚 central office worries that students may not complete the FAFSA and lose out on aid. Both UC and the California State University indicated to CalMatters they鈥檒l process either form students submit and will work with students who file their federal applications later.

About , which waives tuition at the public universities and partially at private colleges. That grant plus the state鈥檚  can add up to more than $17,000 in aid in one year. The state aid application ensures students fearful of the federal application can still receive the state support for which they鈥檙e eligible.

The University of California鈥檚 undergraduate student government is also on edge about FAFSA. The lack of a firm firewall 鈥渃ould put certain students at risk,鈥� said Saanvi Arora, external vice president for UC Berkeley鈥檚 student government and a board member for the systemwide student government.

Understanding the FAFSA risk

Students who are  are eligible for up to $7,400 in Pell grants and access to federal loans that come with repayment protections that are often stronger than what the private sector offers. To receive this aid, students who live with their parents need them to fill out portions of the federal aid application. More recently,  have been asked to indicate they lack one and then must answer a set of questions about their identity.

The U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Homeland Security, which also oversees the country鈥檚 immigration enforcement, have a regularly renewed . Because students need to be citizens or permanent residents to get financial aid, a signed agreement between the two departments states that students鈥� information they submit for FAFSA will be matched against an . It鈥檚 one that hundreds of state, local and federal agencies use to determine whether an individual is eligible for federal benefits. Neither SAVE nor the agency that operates it, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, are used for immigration enforcement purposes. 

Conceptually, it鈥檚 not hard to use that federal financial aid data for enforcement purposes, according to experts who spoke with CalMatters. However, doing so would be a major break from current protocol. 

Under the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Education 鈥渉as not provided and will not provide information gathered through FAFSA to any federal immigration-related agency for law enforcement activities,鈥� wrote in an email James Kvaal, who holds the number two spot at the U.S. Department of Education and is the top higher education officer in the federal government. However, he wrote, 鈥渟tudents and their families should make the decisions that are right for them.鈥�

That does not 鈥渟ound like a robust encouragement to go ahead and fill out the FAFSA,鈥� said Bob Shireman, who was a senior higher education official in the education department during the Obama administration.

The agreement between the departments 鈥渋s not much of a firewall, it is more like a picket fence,鈥� Shireman said in an interview. The agreement can be changed in a matter of months, he said, 鈥渟o if the next administration wants to use education department records to identify people who may have an immigration status that could subject them to deportation, I don鈥檛 see anything preventing that from happening.鈥�

Federal laws limit the data sharing that can occur between the U.S. Department of Education and law enforcement agencies, said Shelveen Ratnam, a spokesperson for the California Student Aid Commission. Ratnam said that current law 鈥渟trictly prohibits鈥� agencies in possession of personally identifiable information, like parental data, from releasing that information, with few exceptions. Some other laws and policies also apply and the gist is that an agency can only use the personal information of others in ways that support the mission of that federal agency.

But if the U.S. Department of Education gets subpoenaed for information, the department鈥檚 鈥渞esponses and likelihood of challenging the demand for information are unknown,鈥� according to Ratnam.

Even analysts who say using parental FAFSA information is an inefficient way to find possible undocumented parents urge caution. They say it鈥檚 not out of the question that a Trump administration could try to make use of that data for immigration enforcement purposes.

While 鈥渋t鈥檚 sort of methodologically flawed as a way to identify individuals,鈥� said Corinne Kentor, an , 鈥渢hat doesn鈥檛 mean that it won鈥檛 be attempted. But I think it is probably harder and more work than other avenues.鈥�

California Dream Act Application is safer

The California Dream Act Application has more protections than the federal application. Though originally designed to allow undocumented students who are California residents to apply for state college benefits, the application in 2024 was modified to permit any student who ran into problems with the federal application to at least apply for state grants. The change stemmed from colossal data issues with the federal application this year that  from completing the FAFSA.

According to a , 鈥渢he government can鈥檛 enforce a subpoena that is just 鈥榝ishing鈥� for data about undocumented people,鈥� said Ahilan Arulanantham, a scholar on immigration law at UCLA. That鈥檚 in contrast to 鈥渢rying to gather information on a particular individual that the government has reason to suspect is here in violation of the immigration laws.鈥�

Arulanantham also said that a federal agency asking California鈥檚 financial aid agency to search databases for undocumented students could run afoul of the 10th Amendment.

Finally, the state鈥檚 financial aid agency could challenge a judicial order or subpoena that seeks student records on the grounds that it鈥檚 not specific enough and violates the Fourth Amendment鈥檚 protections against unreasonable search and seizure, Ratnam said. 

Now what does all this mean for students with undocumented parents who already submitted FAFSA information last year? Their information is already in government systems. Should they continue to file their FAFSA? Experts had few answers. They said that鈥檚 a decision that only families can decide together given the varying protections available.

Arora, the UC student government member, is sympathetic to those households. It鈥檚 鈥渁bsolutely a tough question,鈥� she said. That鈥檚 one reason she wants UC officials to bolster existing immigration legal aid services, such as bringing in more lawyers. 

It鈥檚 one answer she has to her own question: 鈥淗ow do we mitigate retribution that鈥檚 likely to happen against those students?鈥�

This was originally published on .

Updated on Nov. 21 鈥擳he Department of Education announced that beta testing of the 2025-26 FAFSA form , 10 days before its Dec. 1, 2024 goal. The official form is now available to all students and families. Those interested in completing the online form can do so at . A paper form is also now available.聽

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced on Thursday, Nov. 14 the launch of the final stage of testing (Beta 4) for the 2025鈥�26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) 鈥� which is

As part of the final beta testing, the DOE will open the FAFSA to all students and families under what they are calling “Expanded Beta 4” before the end of November.

“During that time, the Department will continue to carefully monitor the FAFSA form, overall system performance, and support operations, such as our contact center, and adjust operations as needed,” a DOE release says. “This will allow the Department to test the FAFSA system with higher volumes of users, while giving students an opportunity to submit online 2025鈥�26 FAFSA forms before Dec. 1.”

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Once the DOE determines the “FAFSA system is operating smoothly with high volumes of users” during Expanded Beta 4, the 2025-26 FAFSA form will officially be released.

鈥淎llowing more students to access the FAFSA form is the final state of beta testing as we prepare to officially launch the form no later than Dec. 1,” DOE Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal said.

Since testing started on Oct. 1, more than 14,000 students have successfully submitted their 2025-26 FAFSA forms, according to the DOE release. The forms of those students have been processed, and the DOE has sent more than 81,000 records to more than 1,850 schools across 43 states.

“The Department has not found any critical bugs during the beta testing period, and the FAFSA system is working end-to-end,” the release says. “In addition, the Department has focused on addressing issues and improving the user experience in the application. Students and families are benefiting from these enhancements, leading to a satisfaction rating for beta participants of 95%.”

The beta testing for the 2025-26 FAFSA follows the rocky launch of the 鈥淏etter FAFSA鈥澛�, which saw multiple glitches and delays and caused stress for students and families seeking help paying for college.

While many students experienced delays, students from mixed-status families, or those whose parents don鈥檛 have a social security number, were聽. DOE officials previously told members of the press that 鈥渕any鈥� mixed-status students successfully submitted their applications during Beta 1, which started Oct. 1.

Beta 2 testing started on Oct. 15, and Beta 3 started in early November. The final stage of testing, Beta 4, started on Wednesday, Nov. 13, expanding the testing to thousands of additional students recruited by various community and education organizations.

“We are in a radically different and better place than last cycle,” FAFSA Executive Advisor Jeremy Singer told reporters during a call on Thursday. “Our systems have been fully tested, and they are ready to go.”

Singer said the Department has successfully tested this year’s application with several different subgroups, including active duty military members, veterans, students with dependent children, students experiencing homelessness, and students from mixed-status families.

On Nov. 15, the DOE is visiting a Texas prison with a community organization to assist incarcerated students with filling out the paper form, Singer said.

“We’ve been determined to make sure that last year’s delays and errors were not repeated again this year,” Kvaal told reporters.

Bennett College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington are participating in Beta 3 and 4 testing stages.

In addition to the expanded beta testing, the Department has also “significantly staffed up” its call center, Singer said, adding more than 700 agents since last January. Once the FAFSA officially launches, the Department also plans to offer extended hours at night and on Saturdays.

“This new phase of expanded Beta 4 gives us an opportunity to comprehensively test the FAFSA application at an even larger scale than we have to date,” Singer said. “We understand that after last year, we are still in the process of rebuilding trust with families, with institutions, and it led us to take these extra precautions.”

You can read more about Beta results and testing聽

FAFSA resources

The Department recently released several new resources to assist students and families in completing and submitting the FAFSA form during the 2025鈥�26 cycle:

• : A new resource that explains what families and partners need to know about creating a StudentAid.gov account.
• : Updated tips for preparing to fill out and submitting the FAFSA form. This resource will also be linked from the StudentAid.gov Dashboard to promote easier access for students and their required contributor(s).
• : Provides an estimate of the 2025鈥�26 Student Aid Index (SAI) and Federal Pell Grant eligibility calculation.
• : A new, stand-alone tool to help students and families determine who will need to provide contributor information on the 2025鈥�26 FAFSA form prior to starting the application.
• : Updated videos to help students and families understand the importance of the FAFSA form, who is a FAFSA contributor, and what happens after submitting the form.

Here are other resources:

• : Updated resources for school counselors, college access professionals, and mentors with information about the FAFSA process.
• : A list of known issues with the form updated in real-time as bugs are fixed in beta testing.
• FAFSA videos: Updated videos to help students and families understand the importance of the FAFSA, who is a FAFSA contributor, and what happens after submitting the form:

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Just one week out from Indiana鈥檚 deadline for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, the latest data shows only about one-third of Hoosier high school seniors have completed the form.

That鈥檚 despite a new state law that took effect last year requiring all graduating seniors to complete the FAFSA or affirmatively opt out of filing by April 15.

The shows that 33.8% of the 2024 class had submitted the form as of March 29, equal to 30,109 Indiana high school seniors. That鈥檚 nearly 6,000 fewer Hoosier student submissions than at the same time last year, and slightly below the completion rate of 35% for this year鈥檚 high school class nationwide.

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Still, officials with Indiana鈥檚 Commission for Higher Education (CHE) remain confident that they鈥檒l meet their goal of having 60% of high school seniors submit their FAFSA by the priority deadline. Students can still file after April 15, but state financial aid will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis.

鈥淲e are hopeful,鈥� said Allison Kuehr, CHE鈥檚 associate commissioner for marketing and communications, noting that other data shows improvement 鈥渨hich is a great sign for potentially meeting that 60% goal.鈥�

Bumps in the road

The decrease in the number of 2024 FAFSA filings is a nationwide trend, with only about 35% of high school seniors submitting the FAFSA form across the country as of March 15, marking a 27% drop, according to the National College Attainment Network.

Nearly 48% of graduating 2023 high school seniors across Indiana, specifically, completed FAFSA last school year, according to .

Kuehr suggested two factors have led to the decline in financial aid applications.

In years prior, FAFSA became available Oct. 1. Changes to the application last year 鈥� meant to simplify the submission process 鈥� delayed its opening until late December and likely caused the lag of submissions.

CHE previously got FAFSA completion data a few weeks after the application launched in October and would get updates from the federal government 鈥渁lmost immediately鈥� during the monthslong submission window, Kuehr said. This year, Indiana officials didn鈥檛 receive data until last month, and they鈥檙e still 鈥渋ngesting鈥� those numbers, she added.

Hiccups with the federal government鈥檚 rollout of the updated, streamlined FAFSA form have also further complicated matters and delayed when many students will receive their financial aid offer, Kuehr said.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education indicated that about 330,000 federal financial aid applications will need to be reprocessed following the latest FAFSA complications.

Of the over 6.6 million FAFSAs submitted in the current cycle, about that would make students eligible for less financial aid than they are entitled to, according to the education department. The agency is expected to begin reprocessing these applications in the first half of April.

鈥淲hile we do not have enough information to do an exact calculation, from all the information that we have received, we anticipate that as many as 20% of the students that we have received information from so far will be impacted and will need to be reprocessed,鈥� Kuehr said of the expected impact, which represents at least 6,000 Hoosier students.

Given the issues and delays, multiple Indiana colleges and universities pushed back their admissions deadlines, including Indiana University Bloomington and , which both extended their deadlines to May 15.

Millions in aid still up for grabs

Even so, Kuehr pointed to 鈥渟uccess鈥� already prompted by , signed into law last year.

The measure, which made FAFSA a requirement in Indiana, was promoted by Republican Sen. Jean Leising of Oldenburg as a way to get more students to apply for federal aid, given that Hoosier students left at least $65 million in potential federal aid unclaimed in 2022.

CHE and other state officials have long supported ongoing efforts to increase FAFSA submissions 鈥� part of an effort to .

The new law made Indiana the eighth state to have some type of FAFSA filing mandate for high schoolers. There are no penalties if a student fails to submit the application, however.

鈥�(The law) requires high schools to make at least two reasonable attempts at providing students with information about the FAFSA before being able to broadly opt students out, so there has been a concerted statewide effort to increase awareness and participation in FAFSA completion,鈥� Kuehr said. 鈥淎 level of these efforts have always existed prior to the new law, but this year, there is a definite push.鈥�

CHE is spearheading other efforts to increase the number of FAFSA submissions, too, including the to Hoosier students from Indiana鈥檚 higher education intuitions.

Kuehr emphasized that CHE also sends 鈥渁lmost daily email reminders to students to file as a countdown to the deadline.鈥� The commission is additionally partnering with the Indiana Latino Institute and INvestEd to host Facebook Live events and answer common questions about the FAFSA in both English and Spanish.

Across the state, CHE outreach coordinators are in schools and communities to provide one-on-one assistance, Kuehr said.

And with filing rates for low-income and underrepresented students especially low 鈥� only 28.5% of students from those groups submitting their FAFSA form, lower than the overall state and nationwide rates 鈥� Kuehr said CHE is making intentional outreach to students who are part of the 21st Century Scholars program, which provides low-income students in Indiana with tuition and fees fully covered if they attend an in-state college or university.

鈥淥utside of the commission, we know school counselors and higher education institutions are providing their own FAFSA nights for students and parents to receive help,鈥� she said, also noting that INvestEd will continue to host FAFSA nights around Indiana. 鈥淚t truly is an all-hands effort.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com. Follow Indiana Capital Chronicle on and .

Several national organizations tied to higher education have asked colleges and universities to delay their usual May enrollment deadlines to accommodate students who will not begin to receive their financial aid packages until March as a result of FAFSA delays.

The nine organizations, which include the National College Attainment Network and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, or NASFAA, sent their  Wednesday to give students and their families more time to consider financial aid offers and decide where 鈥� or if 鈥� to attend college.

The news that application information, the data institutions use to determine the amount of financial aid a student will receive, would not be available for another four weeks 鈥� at least 鈥� concerned these groups. During a normal cycle, colleges and universities would begin to receive that information in October. This year, the information initially was expected in January.

In their joint statement, the groups encouraged schools to give some latitude to students and families as they consider their offers of admission and financial aid due to the continued delays with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, applicant data.

鈥淒uring the pandemic, many institutions extended their enrollment, scholarship, and financial aid deadlines beyond the traditional May 1 date, and we urge institutions to make similar accommodations this year,鈥� the statement read. 鈥淲e all want students and families to have the time they need to consider their financial options before making enrollment decisions.鈥�

El Paso Community College, like all higher education institutions around the country, awaits guidance and information from the Department of Education, said Keri Moe, EPCC鈥檚 associate vice president of External Relations Communications & Development.

鈥淲hile these delays are beyond the institution鈥檚 control, EPCC is committed to working with students and will revise deadlines, if possible and as allowed, to ensure as many students who are eligible for financial aid can receive it,鈥� Moe said.  

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso has a series of 鈥減riority dates鈥� because its programs in nursing, medicine, dental science and biomedical science start throughout the year.

鈥淪tudents who submit their FAFSA to us on or before these priority dates are considered for all grants, scholarships and available aid until funds are exhausted,鈥� a center spokesman said. 鈥淭he university鈥檚 Office of Financial Aid will adjust its priority awarding dates based on dates provided by the Department of Education.鈥�

A University of Texas at El Paso spokesman said UTEP does not have a decision deadline.

Justin Draeger, president of the NASFAA, said the current timeline will severely delay award letters and limit the choices of college-going students.

鈥淥ur nation鈥檚 colleges are once again left scrambling as they determine how best to work within these new timelines to issue aid offers as soon as possible 鈥� so the students who can least afford higher education aren鈥檛 the ones who ultimately pay the price for these missteps,鈥� Draeger said in a prepared statement.

Andres Orozco, an accounting, business and economics major at EPCC, said he had submitted his FAFSA for the 2024-25 academic year and hoped to receive the same $1,900 the college awarded him last year.

Orozco, a 2023 Irvin High School graduate, sighed when he learned about the latest delay, but was adamant that nothing would keep him from his academic journey. He said that he would divert more of the money he earns working at the Northeast Albertsons supermarket to his college fund if necessary.  

鈥淭his is not the best news,鈥� Orozco said. 鈥淭his will affect a lot of students who need that money to go to school. I will go to school no matter what. I want to finish. I will find a way.鈥�

Angel Waters, a senior at Transmountain Early College High School, said he plans to complete his FAFSA soon. He said he wants to study computer science at UTEP or New Mexico State University, and be part of NMSU鈥檚 Air Force ROTC program.

Waters, a first-generation college student, said that while he is not concerned about the delays now, he will be if it takes longer than early March to receive his financial aid letters.

Kayla Carter, a 17-year-old senior who is homeschooled, said that she has yet to fill out her FAFSA, but hopes that she will get enough financial aid to enroll in Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City, Okla., to study ministry. If that does not work out, she wants to enroll at EPCC or UTEP as a nursing major.

鈥淏eing away from home will be an issue if my (financial aid) is delayed,鈥� said Carter, who lives on the East Side.

The expected delays in the financial aid packages is the latest setback for the new FAFSA, dubbed the 鈥淏etter鈥� FAFSA because it was designed to be simpler and faster for students and their families to fill out. It also will give students more opportunities for more financial aid. The application overhaul was ordered by Congress as part of the .

The form usually is available Oct. 1 and institutions receive the application information within days. This cycle, the Department of Education did not launch the FAFSA until Dec. 30 on a limited basis. It became available around the clock in early January. Initially, the government told colleges and universities to expect the applicant information by late January.

The submitted forms have their own , but eventually an ISIR (Institutional Student Information Record) is routed to the higher education institutions or career schools requested by the students. In the past, this process took a few days, but some experts estimate that this cycle could take a few weeks or longer. Once a school receives the applicant information, it usually takes that institution several weeks to evaluate, process, package and send award letters to students. The speed of that process depends on the institution鈥檚 resources.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

A new version of the federal application for student aid will open by Dec. 31, two months later than usual.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, is how prospective college students access federal financial aid programs, including grants, subsidized loans and unsubsidized loans, which can be forgiven in certain circumstances. Many colleges and private scholarship programs also use a student鈥檚 FAFSA to determine that student鈥檚 financial need.

It will look different from previous years. The FAFSA Simplification Act of 2022 made several changes to the application process and the methodology for determining how much aid a student can get.

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The FAFSA is largely based on parents鈥� income and tax information.

EAB, an education research and consulting firm, found that in 2021 more than % of first-generation and low-income college students said completing the FAFSA was 鈥渄ifficult,鈥� citing lack of parental support, difficulty locating tax information, confusing questions and immigration status.

The U.S. Department of Education is marketing the reworked application as 鈥�,鈥� promising to deliver a shorter, more efficient form and to provide additional aid to the students who need it most. The changes, however, have delayed the application鈥檚 opening date and raised questions about whether the new FAFSA will be better for everyone.

The changes in aid calculations will increase aid to low-income students, extending Pell Grants 鈥� need-based financial aid that students don鈥檛 have to repay 鈥� to an additional 610,000 students nationwide. In Minnesota, an estimated 13,000 additional students will receive a Pell grant, a 12.5% increase from 2022.

The Department of Education also says under the new rules, more students will receive the maximum Pell Grant award compared to previous years.

The changes also reduced the number of questions on the application; previously, students and families manually answered questions based on their tax returns. Now, the FAFSA application will import data directly from the IRS, saving families time.

Parents will have to provide up-front consent on the new online application to allow the IRS to share their tax information, presenting a potential barrier for students whose parents are concerned about data privacy.

Students will not be able to submit the FAFSA if their parents don鈥檛 consent to sharing the data.

As part of the new application process, parents will also have to use their Social Security number to create a unique login to the online application 鈥� paper applications do exist but are 鈥渉ighly discouraged,鈥� according to Zoey Haines, a program manager with Achieve Twin Cities, which provides college and career services.

For parents who do not have a Social Security number, the Federal Student Aid Office will use alternative questions to verify a person鈥檚 identity; if the initial round of online questions isn鈥檛 sufficient to verify the parent鈥檚 identity, they will have to go through an additional round of verification. The details of that process aren鈥檛 clear yet, Haines said.

With the application opening delayed two months, the window for students and families to complete the application, receive their award letters and decide on a college is shorter than in recent years.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com. Follow Minnesota Reformer on and .

Virginia students and schools are still waiting for the federal government to announce the release date for the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, a form that students must fill out to determine whether they can get federal financial aid for post-high school education.

The U.S. Department of Education on March 21 it will roll out the form in December, two months later than its usual Oct. 1 release.

Virginia universities, colleges and educational organizations said the delay and uncertainty about the exact launch date could delay students鈥� college applications and make it difficult for institutions to determine how much aid they need to offer.

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Over the past three years, the federal government has been redesigning the FAFSA to make it less complex and allow more students to access financial aid.

According to the nonprofit Education Northwest, which has studied , students who might be eligible for aid have frequently not completed the form due to misconceptions that their parents made too much income or a lack of awareness and information about how financial aid works.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress passed the to streamline the financial aid process for students and families.

鈥淭he redesigned FAFSA form is the most ambitious and significant redesign of the federal student aid application and delivery in decades, and will significantly simplify how students, parents, and other educational stakeholders use the FAFSA form starting this year,鈥� the U.S. Department of Education said in .

Among the planned changes, the form will have fewer questions, a simplified process and revised eligibility formulas. In particular, the 鈥渆stimated family contribution鈥� factor, which estimated how much money a family might be able to pay, will be replaced by the new 鈥渟tudent aid index,鈥� which focuses on how much financial help a student might qualify for.

The new form will also provide expanded access to federal Pell Grants, which are awarded to undergraduate students in 鈥渆xceptional financial need,鈥� by linking eligibility to family size and the federal poverty level.

Research conducted by the Brookings Institution, a think tank that conducts policy research, the changes could have both positive and negative impacts, both making college more affordable for lower-income students and eliminating the discount students receive when they have siblings enrolled in college.

The institution provides for applicants to understand how the new form may impact their their eligibility.

Like their counterparts nationally, Virginia schools and education organizations are worried the delays will put scheduling pressures on students, counselors and college administrators.

On Oct. 13, several national education organizations that represent administrators from such states as Virginia, including the American Council on Education and Community Colleges, sent a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona urging the federal government to announce the new FAFSA launch date.

鈥淲e understand that the Better FAFSA transition is complex, and that many security and other checks must take place before it can go live. We are not requesting that the form be released on an accelerated timeline that compromises any of the work that has to take place,鈥� the groups wrote. 鈥淏ut with less than three months before January 1, the latest date by which the FAFSA can be released under statute, the continued lack of a public release date risks 鈥� our members鈥� ability to do all they can to support a smooth rollout.鈥�

In Virginia, several agencies also spoke positively about the FAFSA changes but worried about delays to the launch date.

鈥淲e know that people who attend Virginia鈥檚 Community Colleges will appreciate a more streamlined FAFSA experience,鈥� said Laurie Owens, financial aid director for Virginia鈥檚 Community Colleges, in a statement. 鈥淲e are eager to see the improved new FAFSA as soon as possible.鈥�

Some Virginia schools, such as and have already made deadline adjustments for students to file financial aid requests.

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the coordinating body for the state鈥檚 colleges and universities, said the delay could especially impact first-generation and low-income students.

鈥淔irst-time applicants will not have the usual level of support as they begin what to them is a foreign process,鈥� said SCHEV spokesman Bob Spieldenner in a statement. Returning students, he noted, will also have the added burden of 鈥渦nlearning鈥� an old process.

Others impacted by the delay also include access providers, which help students navigate the application process and must train staff in the new system, and financial aid offices charged with processing applications and creating aid packages.

Spieldenner advised students and parents to begin creating separate federal student aid accounts, as 鈥渉aving this ready in advance can smooth the actual FAFSA filing process.鈥�

The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond to questions about the delay.

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