Helping Families with New FAFSA Challenges

Please note that this transcript was auto-generated. We apologize for any minor errors in spelling or grammar.

Shawn Morrissey: [00:00:00] Contributors without SSNs, um, talking about how you can check the FAFSA status, how to go through FAFSA corrections, adding missing signatures, fixing, um, when students have mistakenly chosen the unsub only question, some other known issues, um, some FSA guidance that's out there to help families, and some other helpful links and resources.

The chat is disabled, but if you want to ask questions, you can use the Q& A. We have Julie and Stephanie will be answering questions behind the scenes, and they'll also bring any questions that we can answer live if we need to. So first of all, for contributors without social security numbers. They have done some fixes on this ongoing, and the [00:01:00] process was available in March for families without social security numbers to complete the process.

However, there are some families that are still getting stuck. In a situation where they weren't able to have, um, their identity matched through the TransUnion knowledge base match, and they also are waiting for their identity to be verified by FSA. When they do the follow up after they get the transunion information So how the process works for those without social security numbers is They say they don't have a social security number They're given a series of questions from their credit report in transunion And they have to answer those correctly on the first try and if they do that Then their identity is matched and they can go on and fill [00:02:00] out the FAFSA.

If that doesn't work, then they have to, um, take further steps to verify their ID. And as of yesterday, If they do not pass the transunion test, then they can go on and fill out the FAFSA, and then they would follow up with their school afterwards, and the school would verify the ID. So the school would tell them what documents they have to send in, in order to verify their ID.

So they can go on and fill out the FAFSA if they don't match. with trans union right, um, right away. So that is a big change that happened yesterday and will hopefully help a lot of families that are having problems because they don't have the social security number verification, um, match happening when they don't have a social security number.

[00:03:00] So that is a very positive change for families that they're able to do that. Right away they can go on and proceed with the FAFSA once, um, they've gone through that process. There's also a FAFSA known issues page that we have a link to here on, um, the web on the webinar and we will be sharing all of the slides in the recording with everyone.

Um, so you will have all these links for you and these show all of the different open issues that they have. If they have workarounds. If they have solutions to them, it can help families with that. So if you are trying to help a family and they're having issues, um, you can go to this page to see if there are any issues there that they may be encountering.[00:04:00]

For, um, families, when they go on to studentaid. gov, And choose the FAFSA, they can see their FAFSA status. And this is very helpful for families that don't know exactly where they are at in the process. So if they, if the FAFSA shows in a draft status, then they will see that the form is incomplete and that they will have to, um, do some more steps to complete that FAFSA.

If it's in progress, That means that they have, um, done all the steps of providing consent, approval, and signature, but they haven't pressed the submit button yet. So they've completed almost all the information on the FAFSA, but have not submitted yet. It will show an in progress status. If it's in review, that is when the FAFSA has been [00:05:00] submitted, but it hasn't been processed by FSA yet.

It will show an in review status. If it shows action required, that would mean the family's missing their consent or approval and signature, um, and the FAFSA form was processed, but a correction is required. So if a student did submit a FAFSA without a signature, they may show in the action required and then would have to make corrections.

And we'll be talking about that correction process in just a moment. If the FAFSA shows processed, that means FSA has processed that FAFSA successfully and no further action is needed by the family at this point. Um, that, that is a complete FAFSA that's been sent to the schools and processed. If the FAFSA says closed, that means that the family never, um, completed and submitted the FAFSA before the deadline passed, and that will show in a [00:06:00] closed status at that point.

So FAFSA corrections are available for families at this point. So the families can make corrections at this point. Colleges aren't able to make corrections on behalf of the students yet. That process has not been made available to schools. Um, they have not given a date on when that will be available for schools yet, but families can make corrections on their own at this point.

The end. They can go in on their FAFSA submission summary and check the status like we just saw, and then they will be able to make corrections online. Even if a student did do the FAFSA by paper, I haven't heard that any of the paper FAFSAs have been processed yet, unfortunately, but once those are processed, a student can make their corrections online.

Um, once that paper FAFSA has been [00:07:00] processed, as long as they have an FSA ID, they can do that online. And once, um, a student does make those corrections, we are recommending that students do give the schools at least two weeks after they receive their, um, FAFSA ID. FAFSA submission summary before expecting anything from the college, because colleges are really going through all of the FAFSA information that they can as quickly as possible right now, but they're receiving a lot of information very quickly in a very short period of time and trying to turn that over as quickly as possible, but um, they need some time to go through all that information.

Stephanie Wells: Sean, can I interrupt you real quick for a question? Of course. I don't know the answer to this one. I haven't heard of this situation, so I want to throw it out there. What if the student had completed the application and has signed it, but it's not showing them the submit [00:08:00] option?

Shawn Morrissey: So there are situations sometimes where, um, I have heard students have signed and they Cannot get the submit button where everything is complete I did read just this morning that what has worked for a couple of families if they go into the school code um page and just Try to add another school there.

You don't have to add another school and then once they hit save on that page then It magically brings them a submit button for the whole FAFSA. So I have heard of that working for some families, um, but I have heard that there are some families that are stuck in that loop. So you can try having the family do that to make a small change, um, possibly to the school, the college, um, page.[00:09:00]

And then once you hit the save button there. It does give you a submit so you can try that other families have had to delete their entire application and start from scratch. Unfortunately, in order to get the submit when they get stuck in that loop.

Stephanie Wells: Thank you.

Shawn Morrissey: So, um, for. Starting corrections, what families need to do is to log into studentaid. gov, go to my activity, select the FAFSA submission, and from there, if they are in a status that does need corrections, With student actions needed, you'll see that there will be a start correction there for them, and it will show them what the errors are, um, in the sections that need to be complete.

So, the student will only see that start your correction [00:10:00] button in student actions needed if there is an error that is, um, stopping their FAFSA from being completed. Completed. So, for example, if they're missing a signature, if they, um, answered that unsub only question, which I'll be talking about in a moment, um, as yes, then they, FS, FSA is flagging those as errors that need to be corrected in order for the FAFSA to be completed.

If a family knows that they made another error or they just have to add a school in there, they can go in and make those corrections, but they won't see those as action needed listed on this um, landing page. You'll only see that start your correction with the errors needed. If there are errors in your FAFSA, if you just need to make updates to your FAFSA, um, you won't see that action needed.

So once they, um, [00:11:00] click that, start the correction process, They'll get that first, um, landing page, which gives them a little bit more information about before they start guiding them through the process. If they hit continue, again, they'll be faced with this error summary if there are errors on there. And then, when they hit start student section, it will be brought to the first section that there are errors in.

So it's not going to bring them directly to the um, error itself, but to the section that the error is in, and then they have to navigate through that section until they get to the item they need to correct, and then they can correct that. If there are several errors, that are within the form. It will bring them again to that first section that they have to correct and then they would have to navigate through to get to each of those [00:12:00] errors through the form.

Excuse me. And the navigation that they're going through is exactly the same as what they would have encountered when they originally filled out the FAFSA. So it's going to bring them through in that same, um, sequence that they would have experienced from the original FAFSA. So in this example, we'll talk about specifically if The signature is missing, what that will look like.

So it's going to show them that there were errors found on their application and that a signature is needed or the student will be ineligible for federal aid. When they hit provide signature, It's going to, um, bring them right to the signature page if there are no other errors that are needed. So if the student has other errors, um, and the signature needed, it will bring them to the other error sections first [00:13:00] before it brings that to the signature.

But if they only need the signature, they will be, um, given this choice to go right to provide signature, brings them directly to that page. And they can, um, sign on that page. They choose sign and submit. And they'll see a confirmation page that the signature has been submitted, um, and what the next steps are for them.

If a student has answered the question, do you want to apply for an unsub, unsubsidized Stafford only, as yes, And we've seen that many, many more students have answered this question as yes, this year than ever in the past, and mostly an error because of the way that the question was worded. Students were thinking that in order to, um, be eligible to apply for an unsubsidized [00:14:00] loan that they would answer yes to this question when this question is actually only for students whose parents refuse to provide information on their FAFSA but they do not fall into the circumstances where they are, um, And could do an independency override, but their parents refuse to give information, they can check yes to that box and apply for an unsubsidized only.

So most students have answered yes to this in error. If they did that, they can go back in and change that. What they would do is go to, again, log in, go to My Activity. Um, it will be flagging this as an error for them, and showing that the section is Personal Circumstances. So they select Start Their Corrections.

They go Continue. It's going to bring them again to the student section. Once they click to the student [00:15:00] section, they have to navigate through a few pages until they get to the personal circumstances and reach your dependency status. Then they can change that answer from yes to no. Click continue. Then it will, um, bring them to the invite contributors.

section because now they will be able to invite the contributors that they weren't able to add in the past because it did skip that information when they checked yes in the past. Now that they're selecting no, they can add their contributors, review changes, press continue. They'll get the notice that the contributor information is still needed.

The contributors will have to log in, complete their sections. Once the contributors do that, then they will be able to, um, submit their FAFSA.

So there were, there are known [00:16:00] issues. Again, um, the known issues alerts are there for the FAFSA and we'll provide this link for you. Um, there was a problem with student assets. were being removed when students completed a correction that was resolved as of 4 14. So if you do know students that were having that issue, please have them go back in.

That issue's been resolved now. They can go back in, um, and redo that. That correction to have their, um, assets put back on applicant encounters that when they started the corrections, all of a sudden, the correction and the FAFSA disappeared from their activity that's been resolved as a 425. So if you had families that were experiencing that where.

They're starting a correction and they can't see their FAFSA at all to begin the FAFSA. They can go back and now that's been resolved. [00:17:00] Um, and there was also a problem for families who manually entered their tax information. They. Can go back in now and submit a correction if they weren't able to as of 4 25.

We did hear a problem that's not listed on the known issues alert, but there are We have heard from a few people that students are having some difficulty if their high school diploma information was incomplete or they said no to having a high school diploma when in fact they did that students were having difficulty correcting that and that's been reported to FSA but it has not shown up on the known issues page yet and we don't know of a workaround for that, but we are hearing that that is a problem and we wanted to let you know in case you are hearing from students about that as well.[00:18:00]

Um, there are help instructions for families to correct the FAFSA and there's a link here for that and they have guidance on updating consent and adding schools, fixing an application with the wrong social security number, and they do have step by step instructions just like we showed you earlier about correcting the answer for the unsubsidized loan only question and providing a missing signature.

So this is a good page to guide families to that will help them through the whole process and show them step by step what that process looks like.

It shows them step by step. How to go through that. So it is, it is a helpful page to go through. and share with families. We also have some new information for the mass grant program. [00:19:00] The Massachusetts state grant program, their deadline has been extended from May 1st to July 1st for this year because of the delays with the FAFSA.

They have extended that deadline for this year. So students do have until July 1st to complete their FAFSA in order to be eligible for the MAS grant program. Also, some schools are extending their financial aid and enrollment deadlines because of delays. Today is May 1st, which is traditionally the deadline for most schools to Most students to put their enrollment deposits in for colleges, but there are a lot of colleges that have extended those deadlines because of the delays in the fastest, even for those schools that have not extended their deadlines.

They are trying to be flexible with students. And if the students are having problems with their FAFSA and do not have the information to get their financial aid awards yet, they will [00:20:00] be more flexible with those students about deadlines as well. We are still advising families and students to take screenshots of any errors they encounter, to share with colleges, to let them know that they are Trying and attempting to go through this process, but they are encountering errors in schools are very aware of all of the issues going on with the FAFSA.

They are in the same situation with families where they're waiting for information. They're getting, um, Corrections and information from FSA daily with new information so they know about everything that's going on with families having difficulties filling out the FAFSA and will be patient with families and try to work with them to get them information about what their financial aid package will look like as soon as possible.

But patience is encouraged. Um, please. [00:21:00] It's not the financial aid administrators fault that all of this is delayed. They're doing the best that they can to get information out to families as soon as possible. Please be patient with the schools. They're working under some extreme circumstances. We were hearing from some colleagues this week that they said they were working 80 hour weeks to try to get through all of this information and get information out to families as soon as possible.

But they should also keep an eye on emails from colleges and to the students. And parents with important updates. Sometimes colleges aren't able to update their website readily at with all of these changes that are happening quickly, but they will send email communications to families. Most times that sent to the student.

So the student should really try to keep on top of their email and find out about any changes that are happening to any deadlines or [00:22:00] other processes within the school. Um, also have students check. The portal at the school to see if any information has been posted there as well. Yak Yak created a public directory of fall 2024 enrollment commitment deadlines for all the schools that did respond to that survey they have the commitment deadlines there and again we'll be sharing this link with everyone as well.

We also. have some upcoming events to help families either fill out the FAFSA if they haven't done so yet or help them through the correction process if they need corrections. There's some FAFSA day events coming up on May 13th and May 29th. Um, you can also call 800 449 6332 from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. And we can help families, um, with the FAFSA process with any problems that they're [00:23:00] having as well.

And those FAFSA day events are live events where a family is paired. with an individual, um, counselor that can help them through their individual problems. So those are really helpful events for families that are having issues, either filling out their FAFSA for the first time or completing corrections.

MIFA always has resources available for families and for counselors. If you sign up for our emails, um, we have webinars, calculators, videos, our blog posts, we have the MIFA podcast with some great information, and again, if you call our 800 number, we'll We're available Monday through Friday from nine to five, um, to help with questions and families can also request a virtual appointment to meet one on one with, um, someone at MIFA to help them through any [00:24:00] problem with not just the FAFSA, but if they're having questions about how to pay for college, um, With any kind of college readiness, we can help with those questions and they can request a virtual appointment to meet with someone online at MIFA.

We do have a lot of guidance out there for families and counselors. Um, all of these links will be sent to you and will be available. And we do have some other upcoming webinars as well about using your UPLAN funds. comparing college loan options and can, um, on June 1st and July 10th. And Stephanie, do we have some other questions?

Oh, you're muted.

Stephanie Wells: Yeah, we do. We have questions. Um, you can go to the last slide if you want. So they've our phone number. But, um, so [00:25:00] one question we have, would you be able to clarify again what students should do in the case where the parent doesn't have an SSM, but they were able to successfully create their FSA ID, but then when they go in, the student information doesn't show up on the parent account, even though this parent was invited to fill out their portion of the students FAFSA form.

Yeah, so there's one workaround that they were told to delete the student FAFSA form and start a new one on the parent's account, then invite the student, but I'm not sure if that's the correct way to go.

Shawn Morrissey: So usually when the match doesn't happen, it's a case where they can't find a direct match. So something's spelled wrong, there's a spacing error, there's a hyphen missing, um, it becomes a little bit more difficult sometimes to match When there is no social security number.

In there as well to match to, um, because there may [00:26:00] be a couple of people with a similar name that they're trying to match to that don't have a social security number. Um, so sometimes it does work for the parent to start as the student. When that match isn't happening, but other times it's it's just as simple as going in looking at the FSA ID information that is out there and matching that exactly so all capitalization, all hyphens, all spacing have to be exactly as it appears on the FSA ID page for the parent for that invitation to match.

Otherwise, it may not show.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: That's so can I can I just push that question a little bit further. So do you not recommend what, what this counselor was told as the work around

Shawn Morrissey: that can work in some cases, but I would try first to just check to make sure all the spelling, [00:27:00] all of that information is correct.

If not, you can go that other route and that does work sometimes as well. Um, there it's, it's just. The match becomes much more difficult for someone without a social security number because they don't have that unique ID to match to. So you can imagine there may be more than one person with the same name and no social security number that they're trying to match to.

And when you have a one to many, that match becomes more difficult. And that's what's causing people to be stuck in this loop sometimes.

Stephanie Wells: Julie had, um, answered a question in the chat, but I think it's a good conversation to have real quick, Sean, about the upcoming deadlines. So now that we're on May 1st, so we've been saying give the colleges 2 weeks, but what if.

The deadline is May 1st and, you know, they just did their correction and they're still waiting [00:28:00] to hear back from the college, you know, should they really wait 2 weeks if the deadline is now. Can we talk about that a little bit?

Shawn Morrissey: Yeah, if, if the deadline is looming, I would recommend that the student, you Does reach out to the school, um, and just have that conversation with the school to see what their flexibility is, what, what their policy is going to be around that, um, schools are very busy, so they may not be able to get back immediately, but hopefully they're going to do everything they can to get back to the student as soon as possible.

But with deadlines looming. I understand that students are anxious about this. Schools will, we've heard from mostly every school that they're going to be flexible with students and on an individual basis will be able to extend deadlines in a lot of cases. Um, so I would recommend then contact the school and find out directly from someone at that school what, what's happening so that [00:29:00] they're.

Yeah,

Stephanie Wells: we are hearing that, you know, some, some schools that really just depends on the school and their systems and what's going on of how quickly they can process summer, you know, that they had the profile form. So they've been getting awards out since January or even before then. We did hear, do we want to just mention what we heard about UMass, Sean, UMass Amherst yesterday?

Shawn Morrissey: Yeah, so we heard that they they're delayed getting information from FSA so that they're having difficulties getting out information to students, um, because of system errors with FSA. Um, and so that's beyond their power. Um, and so they can't get out information to to students right now, but they're working.

They'll be working as quickly as possible once they [00:30:00] do get the information, but they're in a situation where they just don't have the information they need to make awards for students right now.

Stephanie Wells: Thanks. We just just want to mention that. Yeah, there are other schools that

Shawn Morrissey: on the list. Yeah, there are other schools that just their financial aid software isn't available to to process.

Um, FAFSAs as well, because of all the changes that were made so late in the game by FSA. So it depends from school to school what, what their ability is to send out awards right now. Um, some have, some have not even sent out any awards yet at all. It's

Stephanie Wells: crazy that we're at May 1st and this is what we're talking about.

Um, we do have another question here, Sean, you might be able to see it. Um, so another parent doesn't have an SSN. But it's not allowing the parent to create an FSA ID. It's saying the parent has a social security number when in reality they [00:31:00] don't. Have you heard of that one?

Shawn Morrissey: I have not. Maybe, um, That's something I haven't heard

Stephanie Wells: of.

Maybe we can have For the person who answered, who asked the question, if you have a screenshot or something, you can send us, we can maybe look into it, but I haven't heard of that one come up yet.

Shawn Morrissey: No.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Although we continue to hear one offs, so we're not doubting you.

Shawn Morrissey: No, we're not doubting that, but there, there are situations that I, I haven't heard of that's happening to a particular student, but now I'm thinking back to when they first introduced The whole process of going through the TransUnion credit check, um, questions that when it does get to that point and the person gives their name and [00:32:00] address and it goes out to TransUnion.

If TransUnion then reports that they have information for this person at this address with a social security number that an error would come back saying that they have a social security number so that may be happening that for some reason there is someone with that name and address with a social security number record at TransUnion so that may be what's causing the error but I don't know of A way to fix that, but it was just a way to have make sure that people aren't just trying to bypass the social security administration match by saying they don't have a social security number and then going through the trans union match.

Um, And so there is that error that kicks back when that happens. But this is the first real world one I've heard of that that happened. [00:33:00]

Stephanie Wells: Okay. And we've been trying not to refer families to call FSA unless it's absolutely, you know, last resort, because we know it's hard to get in touch with them right now on the phone.

But this might be one of those situations where they do have to call FSA to get that resolved. So I don't see any other questions, but we'll leave it open for a second.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Do you want to mention the future FAFSA days that are going to go all the way through August, just so people will know that there will be a place that families can go and get get help in the future, even say, they haven't started the FAFSA, or they just haven't been correcting it recently.

Stephanie Wells: Yeah, we have a slide on [00:34:00] that.

Um. And we put this, we put the dates that were on FAFSA day that we had access to, but, um, we just put the May ones out there, but yeah, if they go to FAFSA day, FAFSA day mass, I forget the email address. Um, they can find all the upcoming events.

Shawn Morrissey: Yeah, but they will be extending those well through the summer to help families.

Hey, if there are no other questions. Thank you for joining us and I hope this was helpful for you.

Stephanie Wells: Definitely get your PDP point for the webinar.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Thanks, Sean. Thanks, Steph.

Stephanie Wells: Have a good morning. Bye. Thank you.