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Roughly the identical variety of Indiana highschool seniors stuffed out the Free Utility for Federal Pupil Assist this yr as in 2023, regardless of this yr’s tough rollout.
Indiana ranks first within the nation for the least quantity of year-over-year change in FAFSA submissions. As of June 14, the Nationwide School Attainment Community, or NCAN, tracker confirmed 39,800 FAFSA completions within the Hoosier State, down simply 1.1% from 2023.
Delays and glitches have plagued the FAFSA submitting course of since a brand new model was totally launched in January. The Indiana Fee for Increased Training and INvestEd labored with college students and oldsters for months to finish as many submissions as doable earlier than the state’s April 15 precedence deadline.
“We’re only a proportion away from matching final yr’s submitting, which is superb when you consider the three-month shorter window and all of the hurdles that households needed to soar by way of,” stated William Wozniak, INvestEd’s vp of communications and pupil companies.
Did Indiana meet FAFSA targets?
As of June 14, Indiana was no. 21 within the nation for the proportion of seniors finishing FAFSAs with 44.7% — about 15 proportion factors shy of the fee’s 60% objective. Earlier in Might, CHE introduced the state was within the prime 10 for FAFSA submissions and completions, which was one other objective.
The third objective, a 5% total state enhance in FAFSA filings, was met, stated Michelle Ashcraft, chief program officer at CHE. That statistic included highschool, present school, and grownup college students.
Wozniak and Ashcraft stated a number of components contributed to the state’s FAFSA outcomes, together with in depth communication, the pre-admissions initiative, and a new state legislation requiring college students to file.
“[Despite the delay], we nonetheless ran our typical occasion schedule within the fall. We targeted on creating FSA IDs as an alternative of submitting the FAFSA. A whole lot of our communications all through the semester had been, ‘Hey, this factor is coming. We are able to at the least enable you take step one to prepare.’ So when it opened totally in January, most of our college students throughout the state had been able to go,” stated Ashcraft.
“The fee was very energetic in reaching out to college students and households about submitting. We had been thrilled that our contact info was included in that messaging so households may give us a name,” added Wozniak.
Within the 4 days earlier than the state deadline, INvestEd acquired greater than 1,000 requires FAFSA assist, he stated.
What counts towards April FAFSA deadline
Since college students and oldsters submitted FAFSA info individually this yr, Ashcraft stated the fee used the scholar’s submission date for the deadline. This choice allowed mother and father to make edits and corrections later with out affecting precedence monetary assist eligibility. When the federal government began sending recordsdata to the states and faculties, errors had been found that affected CHE’s capability to pinpoint the variety of college students who filed earlier than April 15.
“We now have needed to undergo two rounds of federal corrections which are separate from the standard course of that particular person college students might need to do to appropriate their FAFSA,” Ashcraft stated.
As soon as CHE can assess what number of college students filed earlier than April 15, they’ll decide how a lot funding goes out, how a lot is left, and whether or not they can prolong the precedence deadline.
“Final yr, we had been in a position to prolong the assured funding deadline to June 30. The yr earlier than that it was August 31, and the yr earlier than that it was Might 30. We attempt to award as far out into the summer season as we are able to till we’ve exhausted the funding allocation for that yr,” stated Ashcraft.
Lingering points with Social Safety numbers
Ashcraft stated one lingering FAFSA difficulty helps college students affected by Social Safety quantity glitches. One other precedence helps college students who filed a paper FAFSA to make sure they met the April 15 deadline. The federal authorities didn’t begin processing these functions till June.
Anne and Mike Vandall of Fishers began the FAFSA submitting course of with their daughter, Emily, in February and didn’t end till Might. Emily plans to attend Saint Mary-of-the-Woods School.
“The most important problem was navigating as soon as we had been in a position to get in,” stated Anne Vandall. “We did it intermittently as a result of we might get to a sure level, and generally it could kick us out. However after we tried to return in to renew, we weren’t certain the place we had been alleged to go.”
Ashcraft encourages households that had hassle submitting or haven’t filed to finish the method as quickly as doable as a result of they’re nonetheless eligible for state and federal assist.
“We’re again to regular processing instances,” she stated. “It’s a few one- to three-day turnaround from the time the scholar recordsdata for that info to get to states and the establishments.”
Nonetheless time to fill out FAFSA for federal deadline
The federal FAFSA deadline is June 30, however that cutoff date is for the 2023-24 award yr. The 2024-25 deadline is June 30, 2025.
“Let’s say someone was going to highschool in January 2025. They weren’t going to go within the fall, however they’re going to go within the spring. The FAFSA has to remain open for the entire yr,” stated Wozniak.
As for the 2025-26 award yr, Ashcraft stated she thinks extra participation within the pre-admissions initiative and the state legislation requiring FAFSA submitting will enhance submissions.
“I’m grateful for the progress we’ve made regardless of all of the challenges. It offers me hope that subsequent yr, if it opens on October 1 with no points, we are able to make vital progress on that [60%] objective,” she stated.
Wozniak added that households ought to keep prepared for subsequent yr’s FAFSA type.
“We would like them to have the most effective expertise doable,” he stated. “And we’ll be prepared it doesn’t matter what it seems to be like.”
Mitzi S. Morris is a contract journalist. Contact Chalkbeat Indiana at in.suggestions@chalkbeat.org.
