The U.S. Department of Education and FAFSA have delayed amending students’ financial aid packages for the upcoming academic year, and the MSU Financial Aid Office is working to provide students affected by the delay with information on how to protect their enrollment status while they wait for their packages to be updated.
An amendment to the FAFSA form is anything that needs to be resubmitted throughout the aid application process, such as a student’s household income amount or total net income.
In an email sent to affected Michigan State students, the Financial Aid Office said the U.S. Department of Education has informed schools that administer federal financial aid such as Pell Grants, including Michigan State, that amendments to FAFSAs for the 2024-25 school year cannot be submitted to the Financial Aid Office until early August.
According to an email sent June 24, the issue is affecting a small number of MSU students.
As of 2023, 61.6% of MSU undergraduate students have completed the FAFSA, according to MSU’s State Transparency Report.
The State News reported in February that many FAFSA recipients had to wait until April to receive their grants due to delays to correct a $1.8 billion error that overestimated the annual income of low-income student families, resulting in smaller grant packages for them.
“It is possible that corrections may not be processed by the due date for payment of your Fall 2024 semester bill, in which case actual aid may not be applied to your account in time to pay your bill,” the email said.
The email further explained that MSU will protect students waiting for corrections from administrative consequences, such as late fees and expulsion.
The Financial Aid Office said the pressure to delay sending out FAFSA amendments came at the direction of the U.S. Department of Education, not Michigan State University administrators.
Chad Sanders, public affairs director for the Office of Financial Aid, said the office protects students from late fees and expulsion if they don’t pay in full by the due date, and flags any unfiled FAFSA amendments on monitored accounts and releases holds.
“The Office of Financial Aid and the Office of Student Accounts are working together to protect students affected by this delay from any harm,” Sanders said.
In the unlikely event that MSU is still unable to submit FAFSA amendments, another email will be sent to students who are having issues with their scholarship money not being applied to their accounts, officials said.
With fall tuition billing due in mid-August, students have time to consider other financial aid options, including Parent PLUS loans, private bank loans and federal student loans, officials said.
Sanders said the issue stems from the newly revised 2024-25 FAFSA form.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education redesigned the FAFSA application for the 2024-2025 school year, simplifying it by asking fewer questions, in an effort to make the process easier for students without parental assistance.
“While the majority of the issues that have plagued the FAFSA have been resolved at this time, families waiting for certain types of modifications to be processed are still waiting for their scholarship packages to be finalized,” Sanders said.
Students currently dealing with delays are encouraged to contact the Financial Aid Office for additional assistance and updates.
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