@ Colleges Are Facing an Enrollment Nightmare

[neverfstop]

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/fafsa-fiasco-college-enrollment/677929/?gift=GFJ6rZk7EjP1WLiLmK2-qNvs8IK559loCojACXGf2m8&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

The article is mostly about FAFSA and the failed rollout (specifically seniors right now), but other related issues for upcoming classes are the standardized testing being required again and the changes in how applicants and schools are allowed to use/talk about/ factor in race or ethnicity. 

A few high level facts-

**On January 30, the day before the department was set to transmit the completed forms to colleges, it announced that the forms actually wouldn’t go out until mid-March. It used the time to change its aid formulas to account for inflation (its failure to do so had left some $2 billion in awards on the table). “


**The department has processed more than 4 million forms, but 2 million remain in bureaucratic purgatory.

**Last week, the department announced that its processing system had incorrectly calculated aid for about 200,000 applicants.

*31 percent fewer high-school seniors have submitted the FAFSA compared with this time last year—a potentially missing cohort of 600,000 students.

**Another 2 million adults, mostly current college and graduate students, have yet to apply for the upcoming academic year.

[aurora]

I'll admit that I don't have much experience with FAFSA specifically but I do think academia as a whole is in trouble and needs to think about ways to adapt for the future. I just wish it could do that without converting to a student-as-customer model.

(Don't get me wrong: I think colleges need to treat students very well. I just think there's a difference between a learner and a customer.)

[lac]

I’m trying to understand why a high school student today would fill out FAFSA with the same borrowing stipulations in place when we were kids, but with none of the “good debt” messages.

Specifically, we know it’s not fair. We know that debt is predatory. I feel like college is deemphasized.

[VillainV]

I have friends whose kids got caught up in the FAFSA mess. One thing I’m noticing is that many “external” agencies that are tangentially related to higher education have very little appreciation for the annual timelines that colleges and universities adhere to. My agency has a national scholarship program, and it never fails that their decision, release, and acceptance dates clash with most university admissions cycles. You’d really think that they’d be able to get this right, as they do it year after year.

[katb]

I have two in college right now and their FAFSA has not been processed. We won't receive aid, but this is absolutely devastating to families that need that information to make a decision. The colleges use that aid index to help determine who gets need based aid and most colleges around here have extended the acceptance deadline by a few weeks - it's not enough. On my facebook groups, some college aid financial officers are stating they literally received 20000 FAFSA all at once and are trying to get through them. In years past, you could start filling out Oct 1 - most people couldn't even log on and finish the FAFSA until January.

[esdreturns]

My son is a senior in HS, trying to make a decision for college. His FAFSA has not been processed yet, and May 1st is the decision deadline for a lot of schools. I think he's just going to pick the state school, but I don't know how a lot of people are supposed to make decisions with no financial aid. One of his friend's mother works in the financial aid department at a local school, and she said it's been a nightmare.

[tacokick]

Apr 2, 2024 1:52:11 GMT -5 lac said:

I’m trying to understand why a high school student today would fill out FAFSA with the same borrowing stipulations in place when we were kids, but with none of the “good debt” messages.

Specifically, we know it’s not fair. We know that debt is predatory. I feel like college is deemphasized.

FAFSA is not just for qualifying for loans, it’s how you can qualify for free federal and state aid like Pell Grants and work-study programs. It’s also what many schools base their financial aid packages on which may or may not include loans.

[circa1978]

Nods in higher ed.

I shifted jobs away from an enrollment focused marketing position last year but my colleagues are really stressed and under the gun.

There is also a demographic cliff coming next year where essentially not only is Gen Z less interested in incurring debt for college but there are just fewer of them. It won't be a problem for the top colleges but smaller institutions are already closing. My mother's undergraduate alma mater announced its closure just a few weeks ago.

Also everyone, no matter what your income, should fill out the FAFSA. Money is left on the table every year - as in billions - by people who don't.

[plutosmoon]

I'm an aid professional, this is a mess, but one we have all seen coming. We knew the DOE was underfunded for this massive overhaul, and there were a bunch of unsolved issues from the start, but I kinda think that was the point. Release a mandate, don't properly fund it and then the Republicans can scream about how terrible DOE is and achieve their ultimate goal of shutting it down. I'm actually really worried for federal aid programs following this mess. Pell grants are so so important and we can't lose them.

The FAFSA has been a nightmare, so much so that we aren't even having students complete it, we are fortunate to meet need and are a no loan school. We use the CSS Profile to determine need, not the Federal formulas, we have plenty of resources for all students even late applicants, but our admit rate is like 8%, so very few upcoming college students benefit from schools like mine.

Federal and state grants are just part of our overall grant total, so we can easily delay asking for FAFSa and we will just swap out the funding source once we do have them complete it, hopefully after things are running more smoothly. Most schools aren't this lucky, my colleagues are so stressed out and worried.

Our national org is asking us to volunteer hours to help process aid for schools that need help, they are asking retired professionals to help. We pushed our admission decision deadline as have most schools. This is on top of so many other issues those of us in higher Ed are dealing with.

[plutosmoon]

And DOE announced it will not reprocess all FAFSAs with incorrect SAIs. It is correcting only those where the aid eligibility would increase (decrease in SAI), once they have functionality to do so (date seems unknown). Instead they will send us a list of impacted students they are not reprocessing and are leaving it to already overburdened aid offices to request these be reprocessed, again once they can actually do this.

This is fine in theory, but previously when we reprocessed FAFSAs for any reason, we generally needed to adjust aid when EFC changed and in most cases students are responsible for repaying over awards. If the same holds true this year, although I'm unclear if it will, this could result in thousands of students scrambling to repay funds if a FAFSA needs to be reprocessed for some reason during the year. There is also an inherent inequity if someone has a mistakenly low SAI receives funds, but a similar family who was processed properly doesn't.

It just gets worse everyday here in financial aid land. At least the DOE has a new daily blog I can read about each new issue and how they have no idea how to fix it.

[neverfstop]

Can we all just admit college is deeply broken? My coworker is stressing over how to pay for his daughter, who wants to go out of state. I keep trying to explain to people that most public colleges used to be heavily subsidized by states/feds and now individual families are expected to pay for most of the costs. If he wanted affordable, public college education, then there is one party that wants that and one party that is cutting funding to education.

ETA: rhetorical you/we....people on this board get it, but the general public only cares about it if/when it's their on family impacted

[VillainV]

Apr 2, 2024 9:58:24 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

Can we all just admit college is deeply broken? My coworker is stressing over how to pay for his daughter, who wants to go out of state. I keep trying to explain to people that most public colleges used to be heavily subsidized by states/feds and now individual families are expected to pay for most of the costs. If he wanted affordable, public college education, then there is one party that wants that and one party that is cutting funding to education.

ETA: rhetorical you/we....people on this board get it, but the general public only cares about it if/when it's their on family impacted

I also think that for the vast majority of people, it doesn’t matter which college they attend. States schools are good, smaller schools are good, community colleges are good. Nobody cares if your bachelors is from Large State School or Small Private College. People get so wrapped up in “their dream school” when for most people it just doesn’t matter. Sure, it matters for a few people, but not most).

[acuore]

Apr 2, 2024 10:52:36 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Apr 2, 2024 9:58:24 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

Can we all just admit college is deeply broken? My coworker is stressing over how to pay for his daughter, who wants to go out of state. I keep trying to explain to people that most public colleges used to be heavily subsidized by states/feds and now individual families are expected to pay for most of the costs. If he wanted affordable, public college education, then there is one party that wants that and one party that is cutting funding to education.

ETA: rhetorical you/we....people on this board get it, but the general public only cares about it if/when it's their on family impacted

I also think that for the vast majority of people, it doesn’t matter which college they attend. States schools are good, smaller schools are good, community colleges are good. Nobody cares if your bachelors is from Large State School or Small Private College. People get so wrapped up in “their dream school” when for most people it just doesn’t matter. Sure, it matters for a few people, but not most).

I agree 100%. This is especially true if a student is likely to go on to do any kind of post-bachelor’s study. My husband is a university professor, and while he knows where his colleagues got their PhDs, he has no idea where the vast majority went for undergrad. Come to think of it, at this point I don’t know where most of my acquaintances and even friends were undergrads (with the exception of those I met in college and grad school). It’s incredible how irrelevant something that seems so urgent at 18 becomes by 50. 

[leahcar]

Living this firsthand with a senior this year. We don't qualify for need-based aid and our FAFSA has been processed. So this is an annoying, but manageable, issue for us given that FAFSA only impacts federal loan qualifying for us. Many colleges require FAFSA for even merit-based awards though so maybe there will be some last minute offers extended.

I strung together scholarships and Pell Grants to fund school for myself as a young adult. I could not have committed to anywhere without FAFSA info. I feel so, so sorry for those families that require need-based aid to make college work. This is a horrible snafu and will 100% be cited as reasons to yank more funding from those who need it most.

I think college will look wildly different in 10 years. The birth cliff is coming. The cost of college has not all mirrored increases in the world at large. It's not sustainable at all. Sadly, it will take the enrollment decline to get any differences made.

[Velar Fricative]

Apr 2, 2024 8:55:17 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

Nods in higher ed.

I shifted jobs away from an enrollment focused marketing position last year but my colleagues are really stressed and under the gun.

There is also a demographic cliff coming next year where essentially not only is Gen Z less interested in incurring debt for college but there are just fewer of them. It won't be a problem for the top colleges but smaller institutions are already closing. My mother's undergraduate alma mater announced its closure just a few weeks ago.

Also everyone, no matter what your income, should fill out the FAFSA. Money is left on the table every year - as in billions - by people who don't.

Yes. I’ve been reading about 2026 being a year that colleges have focused on for a long time because of declining birth rates since 2008, plus kids of the first generation that needed massive student loans are going to college now and getting much different pep talks about college than Gen X and Millennials received. Then covid happened and now this. There will be such a huge shift in college attendance.

[formerlyak]

This has caused so many issues. My DS is a senior in high school and we won’t qualify for aid, but it still affects everyone.

In addition to all the issues already mentioned, it affects yield projections. Schools seem to be heavily using their waitlists this year to manage it, which puts so many more kids and their families in limbo. One of the waitlists DS is on (for what was his top choice) eventually admitted 75% of their waitlist last year. So there is a not insignificant chance kids get in eventually once schools know who is enrolling. And accepted kids won’t SIR until they know they can afford it. So they need that FAFSA data.

I am very grateful that we don’t rely on aid and that he’s fallen in love with two schools (Berkeley and Rutgers) that have admitted him. So he can make a choice and start planning. But the number of his classmates who are in limbo between waitlists and waiting for their aid info is a mess. I worked in higher ed for years so I get lots of calls from class parents about it and I feel terrible that I literally have zero advice to give.