*Update: As of last week, the Department of Education announced that FAFSA forms will not be sent to colleges and universities until the first half of March. According to USA Today, this is due the form inaccurately adjusting to family income changes due to inflation.

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Free Application for Federal Student Aid applications for the 2024-2025 school year officially opened Dec. 31, months later than the usual date of Oct. 1. This delay led to the priority deadline in Missouri changing to April 1 instead of Feb. 1. However, due to the delays and changes, many students have faced issues with the application process.

“Federal Student Aid was working to ensure that they could implement all the changes that have been passed by Congress over the last few years. They were not able to get those changes all together before the typical launch date of Oct. 1,” Teresa Steinkamp, Director of Advising at The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis, said.

 The multiple changes to the application form and FAFSA’s fund calculation methods this year were primarily due to Congress passing three new laws relating to FAFSA.

Although the purpose of these laws changing the system was to make FAFSA applications more efficient for students in the future, Steinkamp says the changes aren’t as promising as they were expected to be.

“The FSA makes a lot of assumptions about what a student’s household or family looks like. Students whose household circumstances are unique have had a much more difficult time filling out the form,” she said. “A lot of the things that are being promoted as simpler or better are not necessarily going to have the kind of effect on making it easier for students and families that I think some people would have hoped.”

Despite the FSA’s efforts to make the process easier, many students are facing additional technical difficulties with the form’s functions.

“There are a number of known issues with FAFSA that Federal Student Aid really has to address in this application cycle. Until recent days, students and families weren’t able to access the form. [While completing the form], the website would give them an unknown error message and kick them out. Students have been trying to problem solve very strange glitches. As a student, if I log in, I’m supposed to invite my parent or parents to contribute and that is not working as seamlessly as it should,” Steinkamp said.

As deadlines for applications approached, senior Anna Harstick said she experienced inconvenience with the 2024-2025 process.

“My brother used FAFSA six years ago, but the email got messed up [for me because] it was different this year. It was stressful because I didn’t really know what was going on and the soft launch messed me up. Some schools had deadlines already and it was a mess,” Harstick said.

Harstick said the new form was confusing, which added to her anxiety of completing it on time.

“I wish it was sooner [and] the questions were easier to understand. They were [worded] strangely and it wasn’t entirely clear what they were saying,” she said.

If students are looking to give feedback to influence future changes with FAFSA applications, Steinkamp says students can contribute through reaching out to Congress.

“Some of these changes have to go through Congress,” Steinkamp said. “Typically, there are [also] draft FAFSA forms for folks to give feedback. But the next time [FAFSA is reviewed] will be much later this year,” Steinkamp said.

To tackle the potential glitches with the form, Steinkamp advises students to get help from local organizations like The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis and MOCAN, Missouri College Attainment Network.

“The Scholarship Foundation has a team of student advisors that [are] available to help students and families. We have a FAFSA Completion Clinic, but students are able to contact a member of our student advising team to schedule a one-on-one FAFSA appointment,” Steinkamp said. “This can be an anxiety-inducing process. I want students to know that there are people who know that and who really do want to help and support them in completing the forms.”