Hopkinsville Community College has slated five workshops in February to help new and returning students file Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms, better known as FAFSA. The sessions could prove especially beneficial this year because of changes in the process.
The main difference for students and their families is in the way financial data is collected, said HCC Financial Aid Director Carla Dossett.
Rather than accessing their own income information and transferring it to a FAFSA form, families will now give the U.S. Department of Education consent to pull that information directly from the IRS.
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The new reporting system was created through the FAFSA Simplification Act. And while the goal might have been to make the process easier, change itself is sometimes a hurdle.
In a related development, colleges can expect delayed reporting of students’ FAFSA information.
“On Tuesday (Jan. 31), the U.S. Department of Education announced yet another delay in the already-turbulent FAFSA timeline: The department says it won’t be sending students’ FAFSA data to schools until the first half of March. Previously, it had said it would start sending that data in late January,” NPR reported.