CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State higher education leaders say more West Virginia high school students are applying for financial aid as they work to fill the gaps amid ongoing delays with this year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
Brian Weingart, senior director of Financial Aid at the state Higher Education Policy Commission, said about 56 percent of students completed the FAFSA last year compared to 49 percent this year.
“We’re still down on FAFSAs but we’ve been able to close the gaps among different demographics, so for high school students we’re about 8,200 FAFSAs compared to 10,000 last year,” Weingart said.
Overall, the state is down about 5,000 forms before the fall semester begins in just a few weeks.
Weingart said that’s because there’s still some glitches in the new system. FAFSA has been rocked by frustrating delays and technical problems stemming from the rollout of a redesigned form intended to ask fewer questions and include more automated features.
“It is a lot simpler, and they’ve been able to rectify and solve a lot of the technical issues that students were having, but there’s still some glitches in the system that they’re still working on,” he said.
Parents and students across the nation have reported trouble completing the application, resulting in frustrations that have discouraged many from completing the process. Many colleges, in turn, have been delayed in assessing and completing financial aid packages.
Weingart is still encouraging students to apply for the FAFSA to see if they qualify for Pell Grants and other federal aid.
“Our office is still available to help people fill it out. If they encounter issues, they can contact our office and we’ll do our best to try and guide them through the issues they may experience, but the majority of people will be able to submit it with no problems at all,” he said.
In April, Gov. Jim Justice declared a State of Emergency to help with processing state financial aid. The HEPC said the declaration has resulted in an increase in state aid eligibility for 17,000 students without this year’s FAFSA.
The HEPC has recently secured a $5,000 federal grant to work with families in filling out the FAFSA forms over the next few weeks.
For more information, visit fafsa.gov, collegeforwv.com or call the state’s financial aid hotline at 1-877-987-7664.