Starting this week, college-bound high school seniors and their families are beginning the high-anxiety task of filling out the government’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). It’s a rite of passage for almost anyone needing help paying for college. But it can be painfully confusing, especially for first-generation college students. What can be done? For answers, we turn to the author of “FAFSA: The How-to Guide for High School Students” and founder of the website UnderstandingFAFSA.org.   

Urban Matters: Kim, it seems like there are two types of families with students thinking about college: Those who haven’t seen the FAFSA yet – and those who have and never want to see it again. What is so frustrating about it?  

 Kim Nauer: The FAFSA asks a lot of questions that can feel invasive to families, especially those new to the college application process. Parents must produce Social Security numbers, tax information, information on their government benefits, and their immigration status. There are questions about who is living in the home and who supports whom. It’s helpful that only one parent needs to sign the FAFSA, but there is often confusion about which parent to use. Are your parents married, separated, or divorced? Where do they live? And who with? Whose tax forms do you need? And what tax years? The FAFSA asks questions about the past and present.  

And these are the easy questions. The questions may feel tougher to answer if you have any kind of special circumstances. Undocumented? New to the country? In foster care? Without a permanent address? Applying for college aid can feel overwhelming to anyone, but the FAFSA is particularly hard on these students – and on any student who doesn’t have the help of a knowledgeable parent or counselor. You can witness the frustration almost any day on Twitter or Reddit. Frequent comment: “I hate FAFSA. I’m going to start crying.” 

UM: The FAFSA is often required to receive any kind of aid, including the coveted “merit aid” scholarships that colleges offer. Yet almost half of this year’s senior class didn’t bother to fill the form out. Why?  

Nauer: Yes, this is a big problem, particularly for low-income families who would benefit most from Federal scholarships and subsidized loans. The National College Attainment Network estimates that the Class of 2021 left $3.75 billion in Pell Grants on the table. This is free money for college guaranteed to any low-income student who fills out the FAFSA.  

Students consistently cite four reasons why they don’t bother. First, they don’t plan to go to college, a group that has grown dramatically in the Covid years. Second, students are increasingly leery of debt and fear that they may be required to take out loans. (Not unreasonable, given the headlines.) Third, as we have discussed, the form feels too complicated or fraught. Last, many students don’t know anything about college financial aid. High school counselors are tasked with explaining this to students. But as a group, counselors have always been overwhelmed, with many having caseloads of 400-to-1. And now their job is bigger, since many are also responsible for assisting students in mental crisis, a big challenge during this Covid pandemic.  

UM: About two years ago, Congress managed to cut the number of FAFSA questions from 108 to 86. Will this improve things? What else could help?  

Nauer: Yes, we are looking forward to seeing this new version of the FAFSA. The form is scheduled to roll out by October 2023 for students seeking aid in the 2024-25 college year. The FAFSA Simplification Act is a big step forward. The act has already eliminated a rule that students with drug convictions are ineligible for Federal aid. Also gone is a question asking male students if they have registered for the military draft. Both questions were considered needless and punitive. And by this time next year, we hope to see a FAFSA that is shorter, more intuitive, and better integrated with the IRS. Filling it out should be quicker for families that file standard tax forms.  

But we need to wait and see. Changes to the FAFSA website over the past few years have made the site creaky, leading to constant hang-ups and crashes. We’re curious to see what this new site will bring.  

Another innovation is that states are beginning to require that students fill out the FAFSA to graduate. Texas and Alabama launched universal FAFSA policies this past school year and completion rates jumped 25 percent in both states. It remains to be seen if this results in more students completing college, but the mandate certainly puts pressure on high schools to help students with financial aid.   

UM: Last question. Citing skyrocketing college costs, President Joe Biden in August unveiled a plan to cancel some or all debt owed by more than 40 million student loan borrowers. Do you think this will encourage more students to apply for financial aid? 

Nauer: Probably the opposite. Debt relief is helpful to some, but these headlines warn savvy families to proceed with extreme caution. College costs are soaring, young adults are mired in debt and regretful they went to college – and, worst of all, 39 million students have debt with no degree. Fixing the FAFSA is important because it makes college more affordable for some 18 million students a year. But the next wave of reforms must be focused on the entire financial aid system, with special attention given to reworking how we offer loans and pile on debt.  

Kim Nauer is a project director at the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School. In addition to her work on financial aid, she has authored major reports on chronic student absenteeism, college preparation, and other subjects related to New York City public schools.

Photo by: Indiana Public Radio