Credit: (NJ Spotlight News)Students hampered by the fumbled rollout of the FAFSA form this year may find relief. New Jersey is offering free online consultations for students who need to complete the forms necessary to receive state financial aid for the upcoming school year.
Through the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, students can meet privately with financial aid professionals and receive help navigating the form ahead of the Sept. 15 deadline for state aid.
The consultations are part of state and federal efforts to help students complete their forms after nationwide issues with the new FAFSA form. Completion rates for the forms are down 10% nationwide compared to this time last year, in part due to the late release of the form itself and a website riddled with errors.
“Recognizing the impact of challenges with the FAFSA, the NJ Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) did and continues to provide enhanced support to New Jersey residents throughout the financial aid process in any way we can,” Margo Chaly, executive director of the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, said in a statement.
The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form, which requires detailed financial information and biographical details of students and their families, is usually available every Oct. 1 for the next school year. Due to changes to the application, the 2024-2025 form wasn’t available until January this year. A revamped FAFSA form — promoted as “Better FAFSA” — was supposed to simplify questions on the application and make the process faster.
Bugs in the FAFSA system
However, students and their families encountered website bugs that included the erasure of inputted information and more. Lags in processing times also meant students had to delay college decisions as they waited to hear back on financial aid offers.
“Understanding the net cost of attendance plays a key role in helping many students decide where they will enroll,” Chaly said her statement. “New Jersey offers some of the most generous financial aid in the nation, and completing the FAFSA is critical to understanding the affordability and accessibility of a college degree here in our state.”
New Jersey was awarded $100,000 in federal funding to offer one-on-one help to students.
Over a dozen issues with the 2024-2025 FAFSA form still stand, although the U.S. Department of Education has indicated there are workarounds. As of July 12, only 52.8% of students from the Class of 2024 had completed FAFSA forms, which is down 9.4% from the same time last year. Low-income families and high schools with mostly students of color complete the FAFSA form at lower rates.
Details of the help being offered
The U.S. Education Department made $50 million available nationwide to help state and local organizations boost FAFSA completion rates. New Jersey was awarded $100,000 in federal funding to offer one-on-one help to students.
Students can sign up for the consultations — which are planned through Aug. 25 — on the HESAA website. In those one-hour sessions, financial aid experts can walk students through workarounds for issues they’re experiencing with the FAFSA system. Those who have already completed forms but need help fixing errors may also schedule meetings. Group webinars in English and Spanish will also be available into September.
The state has made various efforts to boost FAFSA completion rates. In January, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation requiring all students, with some exemptions, to complete the form before graduation, beginning with the Class of 2025.
“Without filling out important applications, students could unknowingly be leaving money on the table that could have enabled them to pursue higher education,” Murphy said in a statement at the time.
