💲 Many students are still struggling to complete financial aid forms

💲 Ongoing problems threaten to keep students from enrolling in higher education

💲 NJ offers free FAFSA counseling


If you are among the tens of thousands of students and parents in New Jersey who have been frustrated with the process of applying for college aid, help is coming.

Gov. Phil Murphy's office has announced a series of steps aimed at helping you complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.

Changes to the application process were supposed to make the process less confusing and easier to complete.

However, a botched rollout of new forms and application process have made it even more frustrating and difficult.

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What happened?

The FAFSA went through a massive overhaul that was supposed to make it simpler and shorter. But a series of blunders by the U.S. Education Department made it harder than ever, delaying college decisions by months and raising fears that hundreds of thousands of students will forgo college entirely.

Across the United States, the number of students who have successfully submitted the FAFSA is down 29% from this time last year, and its even worse at schools with more low-income students, according to the National College Attainment Network.

The FAFSA has been the linchpin of student financial aid for decades. It's used to determine eligibility for the federal Pell Grant, a scholarship for low-income students, and it’s required to receive federal student loans. Colleges and states also use the FAFSA to distribute their own scholarships.

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The FAFSA had long been maligned for being tedious, difficult and intimidating to families without college experience. Congress passed legislation in 2020 meant to simplify the form. The U.S. Education Department was ordered to reduce the number of questions from more than 100 to about 40, and change the formula to expand aid to more students.

Problems started piling up as soon as the new form went online in December, already months overdue.

The first applications were incorrectly processed using an outdated calculation for inflation. Later, a federal contractor miscalculated a different formula on more than 200,000 applications. Each mistake added to delays, leaving students waiting longer to hear anything about financial aid.

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What help is available?

New Jersey is offering free webinars and one-on-one counseling sessions to help students and their parents complete the FAFSA forms ahead of the deadlines to submit the applications.

To deal with ongoing problems, the federal government sent $50 million dollars to state governments to help residents complete the FAFSA forms.

New Jersey is using $100,000 of that money to contract with financial aid experts to provide individualized counseling.

The program is being administered by New Jersey's Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA).

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Students who access the HESAA website can get help with the FAFSA process but also access state aid, learn about New Jersey grants and scholarships and other loans and grant programs that may be available.

"Through these additional free FAFSA consultations, we are offering another avenue of support to the students and families who still need to complete a financial aid application for the upcoming school year," said HESAA Executive Director Margo Chaly in a statement.

"As the State financial aid deadline of September 15 quickly approaches, HESAA is here to help New Jersey students complete their financial aid application over the summer to ensure as many residents as possible can access the generous financial aid our state offers," Chaly said. "We are grateful for this opportunity to further expand our FAFSA supports on behalf of New Jersey families."

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Students can sign up for sessions at: https://www.hesaa.org/Pages/FAFSAScheduler.aspx.

The summer FAFSA completion initiative will run until Aug. 25, 2024, or until all funds are expended – whichever comes first.

Students in need of assistance with any part of the FAFSA completion process are encouraged to sign up for a consultation as soon as possible to get the help they need ahead of the upcoming Sept. 15, 2024 state financial aid deadline.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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