By Rick Seltzer (Inside Higher Ed.)
Changes made last year to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid led to new behaviors both intended and unintended by students and colleges and universities, according to survey results and other data presented at a Friday session during the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s national conference.
Students filed FAFSAs earlier and colleges and universities mailed award letters earlier, changes praised for giving students and families more time to evaluate their financial aid offers. But some colleges and universities also moved up their FAFSA filing deadlines, a move criticized for denying students the intended increase in flexibility.
In last year’s admission cycle, students were able to fill out the FAFSA starting Oct. 1, three months earlier than in previous years. Students and families were also able to fill out the FAFSA with income information from two years earlier, a practice dubbed “prior-prior year” (as in, from two years prior). Read the article
