FAFSA data finally starts flowing to colleges to develop financial aid offers to students

Some colleges and universities are beginning to receive long-delayed information they need from the U.S. Department of Education to develop financial aid offers to college-bound students.

Word that data is flowing from the troubled rollout of the revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid form (FAFSA) is welcome news.

But it also leaves a question: Will colleges have enough time to give students aid package information they need to make informed decisions about where to enroll this fall?

Each year, about 17 million individuals file a FAFSA so they can be considered for federal aid, state grants and campus-level scholarships.

Penn State University confirmed Friday it has received a small number of FAFSA student financial reports, known as the Institutional Student Information Record, or ISIRs. It will use them as test files to prepare for a larger volume of ISIRs over the next few weeks, spokesman Wyatt Dubois told TribLive.

“We anticipate being able to notify students of their aid package toward the end of April,” he said. “We understand the frustrations these changes have had on the college choice process, so (we) have pushed back the deposit deadline to May 15 to provide students and their families with additional time to finalize their decision.”

Slippery Rock University said it also has received a few FAFSA student financial reports. The university is expecting more reports once a software patch recommended by its vendor is installed and additional data uploaded.

“If all goes well, SRU will deliver electronic financial aid packages and printed financial aid packages to prospective students in early April,” spokesman Justin Zackal said. “Continuing students will receive their packages on the normal schedule, which is in June.”

Duquesne University has received test files and expects to receive the actual files by March 21, said Joel Bauman, Duquesne senior vice president for enrollment management.

Federal officials last year set out to simplify the FAFSA. But a host of delays and technical issues spilled over into this year, pushing back release of student information that colleges normally would receive in early February.

In a statement Thursday, an official with the Department of Education confirmed a limited number of campuses have received FAFSA information and said more will follow. The individual did not say how many campuses have data.

“Earlier this week, the department began delivering processed applications (ISIRs) to schools, consistent with our announcement on Jan. 30,” the statement read. “We are continuing to ramp up our operations to process applications, and, as part of the ramp up, the Department has begun delivering thousands of ISIRs across hundreds of schools.”

For weeks, worry in campus financial aid circles has focused partly on how the delay might impact first-generation and other students from disadvantaged households. They might not have the support to navigate the issue and could be more prone to giving up.

A number of universities, including in Pennsylvania, extended the deadline for students to declare where they will enroll, from May 1 to May 15.

They include the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State and the 10 State System of Higher Education member universities, including Slippery Rock, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Western University (California, Clarion and Edinboro).

It was not known Friday if the University of Pittsburgh has begun receiving FAFSA data as the campus was on spring break and many offices were closed. Peter Kerwin, a spokesman for Carnegie Mellon University, could not immediately say if his school is receiving FAFSA data.

In 2020, Congress required the FAFSA be updated and simplified. It yielded an application with a reduction in questions — fewer than 50 as opposed to 108 — and other improvements to determining eligibility.

The changes have been well-received, but the process has become a nail-biter for students who must make a crucial life decision, potentially without the information they need.

Schools including Duquesne have reached out to admitted and prospective students, offering to work with families to better understand what kind of aid they can expect. Duquesne awards $79.5 million in undergraduate scholarships and provides a total of $195 million in aid from all sources.

Duquesne says it has a highly accurate financial estimator tool to give a picture of what attending would cost. So far, 7,500 students who have been admitted to Duquesne have received estimated financial aid packages.

Bauman said, while they wait for an answer through FAFSA, students can use tools such as the federal government’s Student Aid Index estimator or the Net Price Calculator available from colleges to render and then refine their estimates. He said his office will help further narrow those estimates.

“We know it’s been tough for families because we’re hearing it firsthand,” said Joel Bauman, Duquesne’s senior vice president for enrollment management. “We understand why many, many colleges and universities are extending deadlines as a step to help give more time to families. But we think the most helpful thing is to provide them with all the information we can. That’s what Duquesne is doing.”