College plans for many Kansas City area students are in limbo after delays with a federal student aid application set back financial assistance offers.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, FAFSA, is the gateway for more than 17 million students to access the grants, work-study opportunities, and loans they need to pay for college. Filling out the application is routine for students every October, but this year the form arrived three months later than usual.
Schools began receiving some applications from the U.S. Department of Education earlier this month, but most students still have no idea how much aid they’ll receive to cover college costs.
Joyce Nguyen-Hernandez, college access and success manager for Kansas City Public Schools, said students need that information to choose where they’ll go to school.
“Normally, May 1, you might know where you're going to college, and how much it's going to cost,” Nguyen-Hernandez said. “With those delays, I just wonder if students can make a sensible decision for themselves.”
This year’s FAFSA application was supposed to be streamlined and easier to complete. Instead, the rollout has been marked by glitches, delays and updates complicating the process for families.
That’s especially true for students who may have a different citizenship or immigration status than their parents. For two months after the application’s launch, students with parents who don’t have a Social Security number weren’t able to complete the application.
The Office of Federal Student Aid announced earlier this month that it fixed those issues so contributors without a Social Security number couldn’t complete the form. But it still anticipated some glitches.
Robert Sagastume, a senior student adviser with the Hispanic Development Fund, said one of the largest populations he serves is mixed-status families.
“What is important for our students and families to know is that this is out of their hands. This is not their fault,” Sagastume said. “And to make sure that we're just preparing them to have all the documentation or all the paperwork they’ll need once this problem is fixed.”
Some families who successfully filled out their applications are still waiting for clarity as the education department processes applications. That was the case for Juanita Thomas, who attended a “FAFSA Frenzy” event at the Manual Career and Technical Center.
Thomas attended the Kansas City Public Schools event in March because her son’s application was still “in review,” and learned the majority of applicants are in the same position
Since her son has decided where he wants to attend school, college advisers recommended she reach out to the university directly for updates — and how to find more scholarship opportunities.
“Now, I gotta set the bar for my kid to say, ‘Okay, spring break, I need you to do three to five scholarships per day.’” Thomas said. “That way, we know that we're covering some of your costs.”
More efforts are underway in Missouri to help students complete their applications. The Missouri College and Career Attainment Network (MOCAN) hosted free FAFSA support sessions in March for Kansas City students to get one-on-one help.
About 31% of high school seniors in Missouri have completed their FAFSA, according to the National College Attainment Network, just below the national average. That’s about 28% lower when compared to the same time last year.
Camry Ivory, the Kansas City FAFSA consultant for MOCAN, said they’re worried about the summer melt, a phenomenon where students who plan to attend college fail to do so after high school graduation.
The National College Attainment Network said the issue disproportionately impacts students of color, first-generation students, and students from low-income backgrounds.
“Knowing that summer melt was going to be even a bigger issue this year,” Ivory said. “Because more students are just behind the normal timeline of not only FAFSA completion, but school selection, all the processes related to applying for and enrolling in college ”
Ivory said the statewide network is sounding the alarm now for schools and community organizations to support students. A big deadline for Missouri students is also coming up — the priority deadline for state aid, including the Access Missouri program, is April 1.
The state’s priority deadline was originally Feb. 1, but it was pushed to accommodate the late FAFSA rollout. Some colleges are also pushing back financial aid deadlines — Saint Louis University suspended all deadlines and launched an internal financial aid tool so students can get awards by the end of February.
Ivory said most students won't start receiving financial award letters until at least April, but most colleges ask students to decide where to enroll by May 1.
“Some of them are having to make decisions before they have a full picture of how much financial aid they’re going to receive,” Ivory said.
In the Shawnee Mission School District, school counselors say the delays have created a snowball effect on students’ college timelines.
Aubreigh Allen, a college adviser at Shawnee Mission West, said staff and students still don’t know how long it's going to take for colleges to respond if they need any additional verification or to update any mistakes or changes on the application.
“That added stress might not happen until the end of the school year or over the summer,” Allen said. “If they're not in the school and can't come to the student services office for that help, or those questions, that kind of worries me.”
In Kansas, the number of high school seniors who have completed their FAFSA is down by nearly 21%. In Kansas City Public Schools, 215 families have submitted their financial aid applications. In past years, that number was closer to 400.
Nguyen-Hernandez said the college advisers in KCPS expect to work through the summer to catch students up, but she still worries about the long-term effects on a higher education system that is still rebounding from the pandemic.
“We experienced major loss during the pandemic, and we're still bouncing back. What does this mean for our work?,” Nguyen-Hernandez said. “What does this mean for our students? What does this mean for future generations?”
