I stared at my screen, aghast. The time flashed 12:00 AM, December 1, and the FAFSA was pushed to the 31st. I close my laptop, question my life, and go to bed.

This was the first nuisance.

I had spent months waiting for the 2024-2025 application to open, insisting I stay up past my bedtime to finally be done with it. By the time December 31st rolled around, I was once again frustrated- the soft launch was understandable, due to the new format and thousands of people flooding the site; however, I wish the system was more responsive.

The 2024-25 FAFSA form expanded eligibility for federal student aid, including Pell Grants. According to the Department of Education’s website, 610,000 new students from low-income backgrounds will be eligible to receive Federal Pell Grants due to the updates to student aid calculations.

They also claim they will be providing a streamlined user experience.

Right…I was practically battling with the system the entire time. The opportunities are not restricted by economic circumstances, but it deserves a format for students to not get lost in the bureaucratic hurdles.

The new FAFSA places a heightened emphasis on current financial circumstances, but the real-time approach to financial aid is still a little confusing. Personally, my parents file jointly, but for whatever reason the FAFSA application kept insisting I had to put both parents on my application, and then refusing to give me the option to input my second parent’s information or invite them to the FAFSA.

In addition, the FAFSA no longer includes the number of students that a family has in college. What is the point of asking if the applicant has a sibling enrolled in college in 2024-25, but no longer factors the information into federal aid eligibility? I find this ridiculous and unfair, as it puts more financial pressure on the family. College is expensive enough, and I wonder what this change will do to students in the coming years.

The FAFSA needs continuous evaluation and improvement. The ongoing efforts to monitor and refine the FAFSA process are a little odd– the system does not remain responsive and the website crashes every so often. While I understand it’s a new format and traffic can occur, causing the site to go down, it’s still infuriating to wait hours only to get five minutes of the application done before it crashes again. Furthermore, many college students are first-generation and already are very stressed about how the process works. The constant maintenance, crashing, soft launch and servers that are down only add to the stress.

When you finally submit the FAFSA for review, the site acknowledges it may take a few days to finish the revision process and then an email will be sent to say it’s been submitted. Once again, I understand that there are thousands of applications to review, but once again, the system fails to be responsive. Upon logging in to check the status of the application, there have been no updates, my personal application is still in review after weeks and the site has been updated to read, “Your application was received. We’ll share your FAFSA information with your selected schools starting in late January, and you’ll begin receiving personalized aid information from the schools you’ve been accepted to several weeks later.”

What I do like, however, is the mini videos that take the time to teach students and their families how to complete the FAFSA and what it is.

All I can ask, at this time, is for colleges and universities to understand the FAFSA is still undergoing development, and not push for strict deadlines for the FAFSA form.

I applaud the government for trying their best, I guess.