ATLANTA — Some Georgia students and families have been left in a precarious spot as they await financial aid decisions and disbursement, amid nationwide delays in Free Applications for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
"It feels like a black hole, like I'm in a holding pattern, but I don't know the date that the black hole ends," Brooke Sumner, a frustrated parent, told 11Alive. "It's the only way that our family is going to be able to afford to put another child in college."
Financial aid offices at Peach State colleges and universities have been packed with students who are trying to figure out how to pay for tuition and books following delays in aid disbursement.
11Alive reached out to the University System of Georgia to ask how many of its 344,000 students were impacted by the FAFSA delays, but it instead referred us to a letter Chancellor Sonny Perdue sent to the U.S. Education Secretary on Aug. 16.
In his letter, Perdue called the process "an abject failure," stating it "has had unprecedented levels of ongoing and new issues that will delay aid and negatively impact students and campuses in ways we do not yet fully know.”
Delays and technical glitches have plagued the new FAFSA process since it rolled out in late 2023.
The goal of the new process was to simplify the FAFSA form and make it easier for students to access financial aid, but according to the National College Attainment Network, about 7,000 fewer high school seniors in Georgia completed the FAFSA this year, a 9% drop from the previous year.
The data showed that nationwide, 219,000 fewer students filled out the form -- a nearly 10% drop from last year.
Now, as this fall semester begins, schools are working hard to verify and correct students’ forms. While corrections are common any year, schools can’t do batch corrections this year -- further slowing down the process.
John Leach, associate vice provost for enrollment and university financial aid at Emory University, said the office had to make about 200 to 250 corrections, but at larger universities, they can handle thousands.
Leach attributed the need to make manual corrections to issues with the broader overhaul.
"I think the bulk of that is the disaster of the FAFSA rollout. When it’s fixed and bug-free, I think those numbers will rebound. Because it’s not good for anyone," he said.
Earlier this month, the Education Department announced it was pushing back the FAFSA launch date for the 2025-2026 school year by two months to Dec. 1.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the pushback would help them test the form and ensure a smoother process for the next school year.
"We got to do better, and we're going to do better. It's going to be simpler. So I am confident that we're going to do it," Cardona said.
Leach added that communication between the U.S. Department of Education and the schools has improved.
He hopes that once the problems are addressed, the simplified FAFSA process will become a financial bridge to help more students attend college.