ARLINGTON, Texas — The wait for families to find out how much government financial aid they'll receive for the upcoming school year just got longer.
The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday that colleges and universities will not receive completed versions of students' Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms until at least early March -- months later than normal. That will delay notification of how much aid students can expect.
It follows a months-long delay for students and families to access the FAFSA form itself after a Congressionally-mandated revamp designed to make the form easier to fill out. Instead of becoming available in October, as it has in years past, families started filling it out at the end of December -- with some technical issues reported.
"Everything is crazy. Everything is different," said Karen Krause, who runs the financial aid department at UT Arlington.
When her department finally begins receiving FAFSA information for prospective and current students in March, she said her staff will rush to test their software then begin determining how much aid each student will get. Other schools are in the same boat.
"I feel like the tsunami is right over there, and I’m standing here with an umbrella," Krause said. "It's really strange to be in charge of something you really don't know quite what's going on."
She said the extended delay will cause anxiety for students who depend on the financial aid for college, especially prospective students who are receiving their financial aid award for the first time -- and will now only have weeks to evaluate the finances and pick between prospective schools.
"It’s going to really shorten their timeframe," she said.
"There is a lot of anxiety because right at this moment, there’s not a lot we can do," Krause said.
She said students should expect to receive their financial aid package in October.
The Department of Education said 3.1 million students have successfully filled out the form as of this week. Krause expects to receive tens of thousands of forms at UT Arlington.
Krause said families should still make sure to fill out their FAFSA forms to ensure they get into the queue for aid -- and she said to be ready to help if colleges ask to verify additional documents.