Operation Education: Indiana priority FAFSA deadline passes, students encouraged to apply

The deadline for filing the FAFSA has passed but students and parents are still encouraged to apply.

The FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

It is the most important document for determining if a student is eligible for financial aid money to help pay for college.

By submitting a FAFSA, a student could receive federal and state grants, scholarships, work study opportunities and student loans.

Indiana deadline

Indiana’s priority deadline for filing the FAFSA every year is 11:59pm on April 15th.

Financial aid is provided on a first-come, first-served basis beyond the deadline.

“Typically what that has meant the last several years is that we will award students who apply by that deadline and who qualify for state financial aid and then we determine if we still have additional financial aid remaining and if so then we extend that deadline out to whatever point that we feel like we still have capacity to be able to continue to fund students,” says Michelle Ashcraft, the Senior Associate Commissioner and Chief Program Officer at the Indiana Higher Education Commission.

Ashcraft says the state has started to receive FAFSA information from the federal government.

According to the latest data from the National College Attainment Network, as of April 5, there have been 24,914 FAFSA submissions in Indiana.

“There is always a huge spike right at the end before the deadline so we are feeling pretty confident we will hit April 15th at least where we did last year, if not ahead, and then we will continue to push filing after that for sure,” says Ashcraft.

Ashcraft says, even if you don’t make the priority deadline, you should still fill out the FAFSA because there is still likely to be available aid.

There is billions off dollars in available federal financial aid and Ashcraft says there is $400 million dollars in state financial aid.

The deadline to fill out the FAFSA in Michigan is at the end of June.

The federal deadline is in 2025.

“You used to hear this narrative about, ‘well my parents make too much money so I am not even going to try.’ But now, with the new regulations that come along with the FAFSA, many more students who have never qualified for financial aid before are going to qualify and those students who have always qualified are going to qualify for more,” says Ashcraft, “it is sort of this perfect storm of the ability to access funding and we just have to work through the process to get to smooth sailing that will let folks fill it out in a quick manor and get access to those resources.”

Indiana residents who miss the April 15th deadline should still fill out the FAFSA.

There are also exceptions for some people who file an appeal.

FAFSA Submissions Drop

According to the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) FAFSA Tracker submissions across the country are down dramatically compared to last year.

The latest data shows that through April 5, 2024, there have been 1,160,730 FAFSA completions nationally which is a -38% drop from the academic year before.

While Indiana's FAFSA submissions have fallen -27% compared to the previous academic year, Indiana still ranks 1st in the nation for the smallest year-over-year decline.

Ashcraft says that is likely because the state has been taking steps to get more high school seniors to fill out the FAFSA before graduation.

She points to legislation passed by the Indiana General Assembly and signed by the Governor in 2023 that requires high school seniors to fill out the FAFSA with an opt out provision.

Ashcraft says, even if students choose to opt out, they are hearing about it more than ever before.

Michigan ranks 27th in year-over-year decline in FAFSA submissions.

Through April 5th, 2024, there have been 31,942 FAFSA submissions in Michigan which is a -36% drop from the previous academic year.

That could be because Michigan's state FAFSA deadline isn't until the end of June.

The declines in FAFSA submissions across the country could be a result of a delayed FAFSA period that has been filled with complications and errors.

FAFSA Fiasco

In accordance with a law passed in 2020, the U.S. Department of Education redesigned the FAFSA.

The overhaul was meant to make the form easier and faster to fill out.

Unfortunately, the rollout and implementation of the new form has been marked by delays and snags.

The FAFSA usually opens for filing on October 1st but the process was delayed and didn't begin until the end of December.

Data shows at least 50 percent of FAFSA submissions typically happen in those first few months between October and December.

Then, even after students could begin filing the FAFSA, there were glitches, errors and confusion.

In February, the U.S. Department of Education announced colleges wouldn't get student financial aid data until March.

Financial aid representatives at area colleges say they usually begin receiving that data in January and February.

It is used to determine a student's financial picture and what institutional scholarships and grants they may qualify for.

Schools then are able to send out financial aid award letters to by March.

But schools say that data is just now starting to trickle in and there is confusion about whether it is correct.

"So, the Department of Education started to send records to a school –- records being data –- on March 10th. It was like drips. So, in our first week, I believe we received three records. And then the next week we received about 55-hundred records. And I don’t know where we are at this point in time," says Mary Nucciarone, the Director of Financial Aid for the University of Notre Dame.

The IU South Bend Financial Aid office says it hasn't received any student data yet which means potential future IU South Bend students can't get a full picture of their cost to attend the school.

"We have certain institutional awards we can offer that aren’t based on FAFSA data. But even a lot of our scholarships, some of those committees are waiting on that FAFSA data to actually make decisions on who is getting those scholarships," says Taylor Jones, the Interim Associate Director of Financial Aid Scholarships at IU South Bend.

On April 1st, the U.S. Department of Education announced some of the data that colleges had received might be inaccurate.

"The challenge has been that there has been errors in the data. So, whether you have records or not, the question is, is the information accurate and reflective of what a family completed on their actual application," says Nucciarone.

The Department of Education said Friday it had "delivered information to schools and states for nearly 7.3 million 2024-2025 FAFSA forms" and that is had "returned to normal processing times of 1 to 3 days after a FAFSA form is submitted."

These delays have caused students and families stress as many colleges and universities expect students to commit to a college by May 1st which is now just, a couple weeks away.

"We are maintaining our May 1 confirmation deadline. The University will continue to monitor the higher education financial aid landscape on that issue," says Nucciarone.