CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There could be fewer college-bound students in West Virginia this fall due to ongoing issues with the new FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form.
A potential decline in enrollment this year isn’t a concern yet to the state Higher Education Policy Commission. Brian Weingart, senior director of financial aid, said they’re taking a “wait and see” approach after the May 1 filing deadline.
“The federal government is just this week starting to process the FAFSAs from January. Because of that delay, we don’t know exactly how many people and who so we can be more targeted in our outreach,” he told MetroNews.
About 34 percent of high school seniors in West Virginia have completed their financial aid forms so far, according to Weingart.
Weingart said the FAFSA serves as the gateway to all federal aid money, including loans, work study and grants.
“It really covers all different programs that are out there to try and maximum the amount of scholarships and grants you can get for college,” he said.
The federal government overhauled the FAFSA last year to ask fewer questions by linking with the IRS, but the plan to simplify the form has caused delays and technical issues for many families across the country.
Students normally begin filling out the FAFSA applications in October, but the process was delayed until January.
The HEPC, meanwhile, is continuing to reach out to high school seniors to encourage more students to fill out their forms before the May 1 deadline.
“We reach out to high schools throughout the state for FAFSA workshops to help people in that region. We have extended our deadline to May 1, so they want to try and get it in here in the next couple of weeks,” Weingart said.
Weingart said students should also be mindful of scholarship and aid deadlines that fall before May 1.
Because of FAFSA problems, the HEPC voted in December to extend the application deadlines for the Promise Scholarship and state Higher Education Grant until May 1.
Families who need help filling out the FAFSA are welcome to call the HEPC’s Financial Aid Hotline at (877)-987-7664.