BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — After several delays, the 2024-2025 Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as FAFSA, is here. The application saw its first major overhaul in over 40 years with the goal of helping more families qualify for financial aid. However, some families are already having trouble accessing the form.
That's because the new application is on a soft launch, meaning the application is only available for short periods of times during the day. The soft launch will allow the Department of Education to be able to monitor the site's performance and make any necessary repairs during down-time.
On December 30th and 31st, the portal was available for 30 minutes. Then on January 1st, the portal opened for two hours. This is expected to be the routine for the coming days. During the first three days of the new FAFSA's launch, the Department of Education said 30,000 applications were successfully submitted.
Any time when the site is down, families will not be able to start or continue working on an application.
The new FAFSA has been three years in the making after Congress approved the changes to make it shorter and easier. The application usually launches on October 1st each year, but because of the overhaul, the launch was delayed. The updated application was required by law to be available before January 1, 2024.
The Department of Education said despite limited availability to the application, there's no rush to submit the application since families will not receive a FAFSA Submission Summary until late January. The summary tells families how much federal aid they will receive, then schools will later decide how much they will provide to a family.
In an earlier report about the new FAFSA and how to navigate financial aid, Buffalo State VP of Enrollment Management Randyll Bowen said to 7 News that patience is going to be key for families this application season.
We typically have our first round of award packages right after Thanksgiving, early December. That date now has been pushed back, it’s likely not gonna happen for us till sometime in January, early February. Be lenient with your financial aid offices and understand that we’re learning just as their learning this whole new process. This is the first change with the FAFSA in the last 40 years.
If you are a family who will be applying for financial aid through FAFSA this year, I'd like to hear about your experience with it. You can reach out to me through email at adam.campos@wkbw.com or through my social media.
