There have been significant challenges with the nationwide rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that will affect every college and university in the country, including Walla Walla Community College. The U.S. Department of Education has informed colleges and universities that they will not receive student financial aid data until mid-March, four months later than usual. This will put tremendous pressure on financial aid officers as they work to process award letters under a compressed timeline.
This significant delay, coupled with the need to rewrite software for processing the new form, will prevent our financial aid office from notifying students of their financial aid information for the 2024-25 academic year until mid-May at the earliest.
We hope you find the following background information helpful. Thank you, in advance, for supporting our financial aid office and other units — such as outreach, advising, and the business office — as they deal with this nationwide challenge.
FAFSA Simplification FAQ for College Employees
What changes are being made to the FAFSA application?
The 2024-25 FAFSA is the most significant revamping of the financial aid form since the 1980s. The U.S. Department of Education estimates the 2024-25 FAFSA will help 610,000 new students from low-income backgrounds receive federal Pell Grants and 1.5 million more students receive the maximum amount.
Key changes include:
- The FAFSA is shorter, with fewer questions. A new system will allow applicants to pull information directly from their income tax returns.
- New and returning applicants must create logins. Applicants will need to give their consent and create an FSA ID to begin working on the application, and it will take at least three days to get the ID. The FSA ID is a username and password combination used to log in to U.S. Department of Education online systems.
- For mixed citizenship status families, where a student’s contributor does not have a Social Security Number, the FSA ID requirement to verify the identity of the contributor will be accomplished through an alternative process.
- Family contribution calculations are changing. The “Estimated Family Contribution” has been renamed the “Student Aid Index.” The lower the Student Aid Index value, the higher the financial need and the greater the eligibility for federal financial aid. (The maximum Pell Grant is now $7,395 per year.)’
- When calculating financial need, FAFSA no longer considers how many people in a family are going to college.
- An adjustment to the inclusion of assets in the Student Aid Index changed how small business and farm income are reported.
When are financial aid award letters likely to go out?
Significant delays from the Department of Ed and the complex nature of adapting policies and practices for the new FAFSA will likely prevent our financial aid office from notifying students of their financial aid information for the 2024-25 academic year until mid-May at the earliest. Because we are becoming a “header” school and our academic aid year will now start with summer quarter, the late timing will be a bit more impactful for us than “trailer” schools.
An ISIR (pronounced Eye-Sir) is the Institutional Student Information Record, the electronic output document produced by the federal FAFSA processing system based on the FAFSA data submitted by the student. The ISIR is the data set colleges receive to evaluate awarding aid. Colleges do not receive actual FAFSA forms.
What are the challenges with the new simplified FAFSA
All colleges, including Washington community and technical colleges, face considerable challenges in implementing the new FAFSA.
- Upended staffing, policies, and procedures: College financial aid offices must adapt existing processes and systems to align with the new requirements. This involves training staff and reconfiguring internal workflows to accommodate eligibility criteria and application procedure changes. Additionally, the compressed timeframe for processing financial aid, especially with delayed release dates, will strain resources and increase the workload for financial aid administrators. Changes in Pell Grant eligibility criteria, treatment of multiple family members in college, and adjustments to cost of attendance calculations require updates to institutional policy and procedures.
- Application delays: Typically, the U.S. Department of Education opens the FAFSA process on Oct. 1 every year. Students fill out their applications, the applications go to the U.S. Department of Education, and the department then sends the information, in the form of ISIRs, to colleges and universities to start processing in November. Offices then process applications on an ongoing timeframe in the months leading up to the start of the quarter.
Due to a number of glitches, the U.S. Department of Education pushed the FAFSA opening back from October to December and delayed sending the ISIRs to colleges from November to mid-March, putting a tight squeeze on financial aid offices. Now, institutions will receive large batches of applications at a much later date and will be required to process on an accelerated timeline. We also don’t know in what order the Department of Education will release student information to colleges, potentially further delaying processing.
- Software delays: All colleges and universities across the nation will need to reconfigure software for the new FAFSA data. ctcLink uses PeopleSoft software for financial aid processing. The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) configures this software for all 34 colleges, but before SBCTC can update and test the software, Oracle, the parent company of PeopleSoft, must revise the code based on changes from the U.S. Department of Education.
Even after Oracle updates the PeopleSoft code, SBCTC needs sample ISIRs to test and ensure the technical adjustments are correct and that ISIRs process accurately. The sample ISIR records received from the U.S. Department of Education so far have been flawed or insufficient. As a result, SBCTC has informed our financial aid office it will not be able to complete its work with confidence until May. (The May estimate is subject to change if the U.S. Department of Education further delays sending ISIRs to colleges and/or Oracle delays the necessary code fixes.) Until SBCTC updates and tests the software, no community or technical college in Washington can process ISIRs to provide students financial aid awards.
All higher education institutions are facing this predicament, regardless of which software they use to deliver and process financial aid.
- Federal Tax Information data privacy: The handling of Federal Tax Information (FTI) data for FAFSA processing is governed by the ctcLink memorandum of understanding and policies established in 2021, in collaboration with the Assistant Attorney General (AAG). SBCTC serves as the system administrator for financial aid processing across colleges but does not access or share FTI data beyond its role in supporting colleges with the system.
FTI data is categorized as highly sensitive (OCIO Category 4) and is restricted to authorized staff for financial aid awarding purposes, with no inclusion in the SBCTC Data Warehouse. The AAG has confirmed SBCTC’s authority to access and administer FTI data on behalf of the colleges. While SBCTC possesses FTI as the system administrator, it cannot share this data with the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) due to entity distinctions. WSAC administers state financial aid, including the Washington College Grant, College Bound Scholarship, and the Washington Application for State Financial Aid, or WASFA, for undocumented residents.
Previously, colleges submitted FTI-type information to WSAC via reporting tools and Unit Record Reports (URR) for state aid processing. However, with the new FAFSA requirements, WSAC faces challenges in its traditional processes, prompting ongoing efforts to seek clarification from the U.S. Department of Education regarding permissible activities.
What is happening with the WAFSA?
The Washington Application for State Financial Aid (WASFA) is for people who are undocumented or who do not qualify for federal financial aid but may qualify for state financial aid (the Washington College Grant). It can also be used by others in certain limited situations. The 2024-25 WASFA is open now and, like the FAFSA, it will have fewer questions and a simpler form. However, the FAFSA delays are also causing WASFA delays.
How are we communicating with and supporting students with the changes?
The college is taking proactive steps to explain the changes and answer student questions. The information is being shared in a variety of mediums (e.g. website, social media, etc.) as part of a larger communication strategy developed collaboratively between the Financial Aid Office and our Marketing and Communication staff.
More information about the Financial Aid process itself and the changes is available on the website. These two pages are aimed for the student audience.
Keep encouraging students to submit their FAFSA and WASFA forms. The sooner students submit their forms, the sooner our financial aid office will get their information when the U.S. Department of Education starts releasing ISIRs to colleges in March.
- Visit the WSAC FAFSA site: 2024-25 FAFSA Updates. This site will continue to be updated as WSAC gets more information.
- Check with the college communications or financial aid offices before sending out information about the FAFSA. It’s important for information to be vetted, accurate, and consistent.
- Support financial aid staff in every way possible. Understandably, they are working in a highly stressful environment due to circumstances largely outside their control. Patience, a kind word, and a helpful hand will go a long way in supporting our financial aid office and other divisions impacted by the FAFSA delays.