‘The potential for chaos’
“While we wish we could have an earlier FAFSA open date, we support end-to-end testing to ensure the product released on December 1 works for students, families, and schools,” said Beth Maglione, interim president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
Although “testing and improving usability can help,” higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz said he is skeptical that the department will be able to address all of the challenges within this time frame.
“Two months is not a lot of time to implement changes,” Kantrowitz said.
“A key concern is that they seem to be acting as though there will not be any problems and that this beta testing is mainly an opportunity to build confidence in a perfect system,” he added.
“Even without last year’s FAFSA fiasco, Murphy’s Law suggests that whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Failing to properly plan for the beta testing will guarantee the potential for chaos,” Kantrowitz said.
Financial aid is key amid rising costs
For many families, financial aid is crucial when it comes to covering the cost of college, which is now nearing $100,000 a year.
The FAFSA serves as the gateway to all federal aid money, including federal student loans, work-study and especially grants — which have become the most crucial kind of assistance because they typically do not need to be repaid.
In part because of issues with the new form, students are now relying on loans more, according to Sallie Mae’s recent How America Pays for College report. The share of parents taking out federal parent PLUS loans to help cover the costs of their children’s college education has also grown, other studies show.
To that end, it’s more important that the FAFSA is fully functional for next year, even if it means another delayed start, most experts say.
Submitting a FAFSA is one of the best predictors of whether a high school senior will go on to college, according to the National College Attainment Network. Seniors who complete the FAFSA are 84% more likely to enroll in college directly after high school, according to an NCAN study of 2013 data.
“The department’s testing plan is a critical step,” said Elizabeth Morgan, a spokesperson for the National College Attainment Network.
“This coming year, we must regain and surpass prior rates of FAFSA completion so more students take advantage of Pell Grants and continue their education beyond high school,” Morgan added.