FAFSA delays prompt Pa. state-owned universities to extend enrollment deadlines

Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities are extending the deadline for thousands of prospective new students to review financial aid offers and decide whether to enroll for fall.

The move is intended to mitigate delays being experienced nationwide with the U.S. Department of Education’s revamped Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA.

Member universities of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education will either use rolling admissions to continuously scrutinize student applications as received, or establish a decision deadline no earlier than May 15 for students to commit, officials said.

The traditional deadline nationally is May 1. — or what typically is referred to as National College Decision Day

The move affects thousands of applicants across the system, whose roughly 83,000 students include those attending Pennsylvania Western University (California, Clarion, Edinboro), Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Slippery Rock University.

“PASSHE universities are doing everything they can to give students and families more time to consider financial aid offers,” said Chancellor Daniel Greenstein in a statement accompanying the announcement.

“We know that most of our students are from low- and middle-income families, and they rely on financial aid to attend their PASSHE university,’” he said. “Going to college and earning a degree or credential is life-changing, and those decisions should not be rushed.”

In a substantial update to its financial aid system, the Education Department last year overhauled FAFSA to make it shorter and simpler.

But several months of rollout delays mean colleges and universities nationwide are not expected to obtain student financial information from the FAFSA until mid-March. Usually, schools receive the data in early February.

The form is used to calculate the size and composition of financial aid packages, which are likely to be sent to students and families weeks later than usual.

Filing the FAFSA online helps determine whether a student qualifies for a federal Pell Grant, the Pennsylvania State Grant, scholarships provided by universities and federal student loans, State System officials said.

Nationwide, more than 17 million freshmen and returning students fill out a FAFSA each year. Unease has been growing among many of them that the delay might impact aid amounts available and squeeze their decision-making time.

A small number of colleges and universities from California to Minnesota to Pennsylvania recently announced they are pushing back the traditional May 1 deadline. Some like the State System campuses chose May 15. Widener Universty suspended plans to observe a May 1 deadline and so far has not set a new specific deadline.

For students weighing offers from IUP and elsewhere, May 15 is not infinite but “can make a heck of a difference” buying some breathing room to think things over, said Thomas Segar, university vice president for student affairs.

Going much beyond mid-May begins to encroach on planning for June orientation visits to campus, and that can create another kind of stress, Segar added.

At Slippery Rock, Eli Reibson, 20, a junior, exercise science major from Jersey Shore, Pa. said he thinks two weeks extra are better than nothing and can actually make a difference.

“College is expensive,” he said. “This can help you figure out the best deal for you.”

Other campuses at least for now have said they will hold to their deadlines while working individually with students and awaiting federal guidance. Among them are the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne University.

At Pitt, Chancellor Joan Gabel earlier this month said admissions representatives have been in touch with students who have been impacted.

“Mostly, what we want them to know is that we know this isn’t their fault. And that as the guidance comes out, we will work with them, so that they aren’t thinking they’re forgotten,” Gabel told TribLive.

Duquesne University also has said it was sticking to its overall deadlines but will “work with families on extensions on a case-by-case basis, if needed,” said Joel Bauman, senior vice president of enrollment management.

In addition to the Western Pennsylvania campuses, the State System includes Cheyney, Commonwealth University (Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, Mansfield), East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Millersville, Shippensburg and West Chester.