Riley Hurst-Brubaker

Entrance to the Falk Hall.

The 2024-2025 FAFSA application was redesigned to expand students’ eligibility for federal aid and make the application process easier. However, the new application has had many glitches and after several delays, universities such as Chatham are still waiting to receive FAFSA information for admitted undergraduate students.

In past years, the FAFSA form was open to students in October and sent to universities in January. This year, the form didn’t open until late December. The delay was due to changes in the amount of questions on the form and changes to the income exemption guidelines in the FAFSA formula. Now, the delay to get the information to colleges is caused by the Department of Education fixing their income exemption guidelines in the FAFSA formula to make it so families can be eligible for more financial aid.

If the department didn’t make the fix to the income exception guidelines there was a chance for low-income families to lose out on potential aid, according to the Hill.

As of March 12, some universities had received the federal data needed to put together financial aid packages, according to the Biden Administration. However, Chatham is still waiting for the information it needs to be able to send out packages for admitted or accepted undergraduate students.

“This time last year, we had about 1,500 financial packages for admitted or accepted undergraduate students that were sent out, and we currently have zero,” said Sarah Fink, associate director of financial aid at Chatham.

The Federal Department of Education says it is looking to make final updates and fix any bugs that the first sample may have had before sending out the needed information to the rest of the universities in the country. According to the FAFSA status tracker, FAFSA information was to be shared with students’ selected schools by early March. The Office of Financial Aid said there is currently no timeline for when Chatham will receive the information from the government.

For incoming students, this is the time of year to go over finances with their financial aid offers in order to prepare for National College Decision Day on May 1. Due to the delays, schools have been forced to withhold financial aid packages and push back their decision date.

Chatham incoming and returning students are currently still required to deposit by May 1 in order to have priority housing.

Students who need to reach out to the Office of Financial Aid can send them an email at [email protected] or stop in to their office in Braun Hall on weekdays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. 

Update: After this story was published, Chatham University extended the priority tuition deposit deadline to May 15. The guaranteed housing application deadline for incoming students was extended to June 1.