Quarter of FAFSA applicants had difficulty submitting the form, new data shows
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About a quarter of FAFSA applicants last year had difficulty submitting the new federal student aid form that was hampered by technical issues, per a Lumina Foundation-Gallup report released Wednesday.
Why it matters: Glitches and math errors in the free government application presented significant hurdles to students in the college admission process.
- In reality, more students were likely plagued with challenges "because the percentage excludes students who started but did not submit or who never began the FAFSA form," the report said.
Context: Schools received FAFSA information from students more than a month later than expected in 2024 because of a math error in the application.
- Some financial aid offers trailed college acceptances, leaving students with the possibility of enrolling without knowing if they'd ultimately be able to afford it. Some colleges extended commitment deadlines to compensate.
- Technical issues with the new form also prevented some families from submitting it at all.
By the numbers: Less than half of the class of 2024 completed the FAFSA, marking a nearly 12% decline from the class of 2023, per the Lumina-Gallup report.
- 51% of applicants said the timing of when they received their offer affected where they went to college.
- 55% said the timing affected whether they decided to attend college at all.
Zoom in: 31% of students who submitted the FAFSA said the timing of their financial aid offer negatively affected their college enrollment.
- Of those, 12% said they had to drop out of college for a semester or more, and 13% said they opted to attend a community college instead of a four-year college.
- "Black and Hispanic applicants are more likely than their White and Asian peers to say FAFSA impacted their college decision — both positively and negatively," the report said.
- About half of FAFSA applicants said the amount they received in their offer allowed them to attend a four-year college that otherwise wouldn't have been feasible.
What we're watching: Earlier this month, The Trump administration announced improvements to the FAFSA form and said it would "correct the failures" of the Biden administration.
- The Department of Education is beta testing the ability of colleges and universities to make "batch corrections" to FAFSA forms, which would allow them to efficiently update information, per a press release.
- The administration also gave the public until early April to recommend improvements to the 2026-27 FAFSA form via the Federal Register.
- A question on applicants' "gender" was changed to "sex," following suit with President Trump's executive orders against transgender people.
Go deeper: Trump-voting states have more to lose if Education Department dismantled
Methodology: The Lumina Foundation-Gallup 2025 State of Higher Education Study was conducted Oct. 2-31 with 13,933 current and prospective college students.
