It’s a big week for Bay Area high school students deciding where to go to college, and some are having to make a decision without knowing how much financial aid they’ll receive.
Marlay’ja Hackett is a senior at Fremont High School in Oakland and has her sights set on attending college in just a few months.
But she is one of millions of high school students across America frustrated by problems with the FAFSA financial aid website.
“There was a long time where I tried to log in and they just rebooted the whole system and logged me right back out,” Hackett said. “That would happen consistently. We would have to wait for days, which would turn into weeks and months. It was just difficult to even start the application.”
A revamped FAFSA website — intended to simplify the process — was rolled out to students in January, months behind schedule, and still not quite ready.
“The U.S. Department of Education was building a plane as it flew to its destination and crashed it several times along the way,” says financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz.
Kantrowitz said system glitches affected four in 10 students applying for financial aid, and that could be the reason there are 2.6 million fewer FAFSA applications this year than last year.
“The FAFSA fiasco doesn’t just affect students and their families. It also affects colleges. Some colleges will see a significant drop in enrollment, enough that it could force some of them to close permanently,” Kantrowitz said.
FAFSA issues now spill over into college decision day on May 1, which most colleges set as a deadline for accepted students to commit.
“It’s a crucial time because students should have had their award letters at this point, choosing where they’re going to go based on how much money they’re going to get, taking out loans, putting the rubber on the road for scholarships” , said Jaliza Collins, a counselor at Fremont High School.
For Marlay’ja, her plans are still up in the air. She was accepted to her first choice, Southern University A&M in Baton Rouge. But she still doesn’t know if she can afford to attend.
“Some of those schools that I applied to, I’ve seen it and everything they have to offer. And it’s been exciting, but at the same time, I don’t know if I’ll be able to go because I don’t know what my financial aid package looks like ” she said. “You have all these dreams and ambitions and you’ve worked hard for them, but it may not happen, not because of anything you’ve done, but because you don’t have your financial aid packages yet.”
For many students, choosing backup schools and community colleges may be more important than ever this year.
Len Ramirez
