Jan 31, 2024 - Economy

FAFSA financial aid offers could be delayed

Sareen Habeshian

Illustrated collage of an African American student reading a book surrounded by various rectangles and a hundred dollar bill — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Students waiting to hear back on how much financial aid they'll receive before enrolling at a college may have to wait longer than usual this year.

The big picture: The delay comes after the Department of Education announced changes earlier this month to fix how it calculates federal student aid due to a math error in this year's FAFSA application.

The changes will allow for an additional $1.8 billion in federal student aid.

Driving the news: Schools won't start receiving students' FAFSA information until the first half of March, the Department of Education announced Tuesday.

The department had previously said it would start sending eligibility information to schools in late January.

Between the lines: Since colleges can't determine students' financial aid packages until they receive the data, the timeline for sending out that information to students could be impacted.

In turn, the delay may affect students facing what is usually a May 1 deadline to commit to a school.

By the numbers: More than 3.1 million FAFSA forms have already been submitted since Dec. 30, per the department.

Go deeper: What's going on with student loan relief

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FAFSA financial aid offers could be delayed

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