After Rocky Start, US Works Out Glitches for College Aid Application

When the federal government first launched its new online college aid application last week, families who’d already waited an extra three months to fill it out discovered they’d have to navigate through long outages that were locking them out or kicking them off the site.

But the soft launch period is over, the Education Department announced late Monday evening, and other than during routine maintenance, applicants can now fill out the newly revamped 2024-2025 FAFSA form 24 hours a day seven days a week. 

“The Department initiated pauses for site maintenance and to make technical updates as needed to provide a better experience for students and their families,” the department said in a statement. “Now, the form will be continuously available except for routine maintenance, typical of any FAFSA cycle.”

The FAFSA — which stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid — is used by more than 17 million college students every year. It determines eligibility for all federal financial aid, including grants, loans and work-study programs, and is also used by many colleges and state governments that offer their own aid. Each year, millions of students who file a FAFSA get more than $120 billion in federal aid alone, according to the College Board. 

The messiness of the debut this year was particularly frustrating because many families of college-bound kids were already feeling behind schedule on the application process. The Education Department’s Federal Student Aid office took extra time for the massive redesign, pledging to release it by Dec. 31 rather than the typical Oct. 1. It was only over New Year’s weekend that officials announced kinks would continue to be worked out during a soft launch period.

Complaints on social media in the early days of the launch indicated many families were trying unsuccessfully to complete the application for hours or even days.

The FSA office has told applicants not to feel rushed because eligibility information won’t be sent to the colleges that applicants are considering until late January. But many families complaining on social media worried that being three months later than normal wouldn't given them enough time to determine which schools they could afford before individual college deadlines passed. 

In fact, the National College Attainment Network, a nonprofit focused on underrepresented and low-income students, said at the end of November that the overhaul would make financial aid award letters from individual institutions "much later than in previous years."

These offers probably won’t arrive until late February or March at the earliest, the group said.

As of Monday night, the FSA office had received over 1 million applications for this cycle, according to the Education Department.  The new version, the most significant revision since the 1980s, simplifies the application process and changes how eligibility for aid is calculated.

"We have heard from students and families that the new FAFSA form is a better experience that’s easier to complete,” FSA Chief Richard Cordray said in the statement.