ALLENDALE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — It’s been an unprecedented year for students seeking college financial aid. May 1 has historically been known as National College Decision Day, but countless students are still in limbo, unsure of where they’re going to enroll or how much financial aid they will get.

“It’s been a really interesting year,” said Michelle Rhodes, associate vice president for financial aid at Grand Valley State University.

Rhodes has worked in the financial aid field for nearly two decades and said she’s never seen anything like the past six months.

“We had a lot of federal funds given to us during COVID, and so we were thinking that was going to be the craziest thing we’ve ever seen,” she said. “And now, a few years later, with the FAFSA stuff that’s happening, it’s definitely been a crazy year.”

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid determines grants and scholarships and is required to receive federal loans.

Typically, the FAFSA form is released in October, but the U.S. Department of Education announced a new form — intended to make the process easier — would be released in Dec. 2023. 

“We didn’t get communication a lot really early and so it was like nope, the FAFSA will be released on the 31st. And then as it got closer to that date, we still weren’t getting a lot of information, and then it was kind of more of a softer rollout,” Rhodes explained. 

When the form finally went live, things quickly turned chaotic. Bugs and glitches prevented students from submitting the form, and incorrect processing locked some out of their account completely.

Nationwide, the Associated Press reports the number of students who have successfully submitted the FAFSA is down 29% from this time last year. It’s worse at schools that have more low-income students, according to the National College Attainment Network.

“It really impacted everyone who needed to file a FAFSA. But it mostly impacted those students who are new students to higher ed and that are filling out the FAFSA,” Rhodes said.

The flawed system led to major delays in colleges receiving FAFSA information and, in turn, getting aid packages out to students.

“Grand Valley did not get actual FAFSA information until sometime in March, right, so that was almost a five-, six-month delay,” Rhodes explained. “We usually have, you know, 10 to 11 months to do the work for the new students coming in the fall, and all of that is crammed into about four months for us right now. So we just are kind of going into the peak season where we finally got all the information from the Department of Education.”

Some families are still having issues with FAFSA, though Rhodes said it’s not nearly as bad as it was a few months ago.

“Majority of students have been able to push through,” she said. “They’ve done some updates on their systems. And like I said, every day, we’re continuing to get updates of ‘Okay, we’ve updated it for this small group of students who now won’t have issues logging in again.’ So that’s primarily what we’ve been seeing and what we continue to see and just navigate those families through.”

Rhodes said the admissions office continues to feel the stress of the situation, but staff members continue to manage as best they can, knowing they’ll likely be navigating these challenges through September.

She added that GVSU has released offers to the majority of students who have everything completed but understands other schools might not be there yet. That’s why the university is working to be as flexible as possible.

“We’re trying to manage stress on all of those levels and, you know, trying to balance the anxiety of families,” Rhodes said. “We know cost is a really big deal when you choose what college you’re going to go to, so we have done everything we can and we’ll continue to do everything we can to support the students and families as they make those decisions.”

Many other colleges and universities are doing the same, pushing back enrollment and housing deadlines as families continue to navigate FAFSA issues and wait to receive aid packages.

For anyone who is in limbo, Rhodes encourages them to stay in communication with the schools they’re interested in and not to give up.

“Just because there’s this May 1 deadline that you sometimes hear about, it’s definitely not too late,” she said.

Rhodes added that once things are ironed out, she has confidence the FAFSA process will be easier.

“The filing itself seems to really be easy. It’s just some of the back end, I would say glitches and new things, that we have to work through,” she said. “So, you know, if we think ahead to next year, a future year, I’m really hopeful that this will be an easier process for students, their families, their supporters. But right now, it’s just been a little bit of a challenging year navigating through everything.”