Getting into college this year has been especially difficult, and financial aid experts are raising new concerns that students could face a tough timeline if they rely on federal aid to attend school this summer.
While most college students enroll only in the fall and spring semesters, some students, such as non-traditional and low-income students, rely on summer school to complete their degree as quickly as possible and save money. Changes made by the U.S. Department of Education in 2017 allow these students to qualify for government aid year-round.
But this year, a congressional mandate to streamline the process for applying for college financial aid threw the entire system into chaos, as students across the country reported widespread problems filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the government improperly handled key data needed by colleges to offer aid.
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The situation has improved over the past month, with FAFSAs now being processed in one to three days, the Education Department said, but many colleges are still running well behind their usual timelines.The disruptions have forced some colleges to turn to their own systems to calculate costs for certain students who want to enroll this summer and are eligible for Pell Grants, a need-based federal financial aid program.
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But some experts say the schedule leaves little room for error.
“We're very concerned about people who are hoping to enroll in college beyond the summer term,” said Moralee Keller, senior director of strategic programming at the National College Access Network. “The FAFSA debacle has not affected any part of higher education.”
The Department of Education said in a statement to USA Today that the technical issue with when colleges choose to use Pell Grants does not change the amount of federal financial aid students ultimately qualify for. The department said Friday that it has processed more than 10 million FAFSA forms.
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For people like Brenda Hicks, making sure Pell Grants were awarded to students who couldn't afford it was a daunting task.
Southwestern College, a small private school in Winfield, Kansas, where she is director of financial aid, is one of the few institutions of higher education that bases summer aid decisions on students' FAFSA data from the following year. She says they're constantly scrambling to make sure students get the aid they qualify for. Many of Southwestern's summer students are older, and because they have jobs, childcare or other responsibilities, they sometimes can't fill out all the required paperwork on time.
“I was very worried,” Hicks told USA Today.
Southwestern's Pell Grant class is relatively small, about 100 students. Most students were able to get their Pell grants out last week, but a few students had trouble filling out the FAFSA in the first place, Hicks said. After multiple exchanges with the Department of Education, one student enrolled in summer courses received his federal scholarship estimate on Friday. The summer courses began earlier this month.
Another Southwestern student still doesn't know how much of a federal scholarship he'll receive because of issues with his FAFSA. Hicks said they can't award him any scholarship money just yet, but they're working closely with billing staff to make sure he's not penalized for unpaid tuition or fees while his situation is pending.
“Everything that's been going on this year has made it hard for me to stay on top of it and make sure Summer gets the attention he deserves,” she said. “We're just trying to get through it and hold him close.”
Hicks said he fears a similar situation could play out at larger schools, increasing the likelihood that some students will be left behind this summer.
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Experts are also unclear on exactly how many colleges are looking to tighten their summer scholarship schedules this year. Thankfully, most colleges base summer scholarships on the previous year's FAFSA, said Jill DeJean, a senior policy analyst at the National Association of Student Scholarship Administrators.
The Department of Education did not provide USA Today with an estimate of how many students received Pell Grants starting in the summer semester of the school year. The department said about 700,000 students in total received the grants throughout the entire 2021-22 school year, and much of that aid likely began in the fall semester.
Dejean said students with special financial circumstances are at greatest risk of being forced to forgo their studies this summer because universities do not yet have the power to appeal government financial aid calculations – a decision schools make in special circumstances, such as if a student has a serious medical condition.
The Department of Education said the revised information won't be mass-processed by the federal government until July. Until then, some schools are making their own unofficial calculations of students who will enroll in the summer term. The Department of Education is allowing them to base preliminary aid payments on those estimates.
Later this summer, schools will have to compare the amounts they have already started paying students with official government figures.
“Hopefully it will be the same,” DeJean said.
Zachary Schermel covers education and breaking news USA TODAY. To contact him via email: zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow @ZachSchermele on X..
