Colleges in Central Oregon are counseling patience and flexibility as students wait for delays surrounding their applications for financial aid to be resolved.

The U.S. Department of Education rolled out the overhauled Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, in December. Delays and technical glitches have made it difficult nationwide for students to complete the form, and for the education department to process and send information to colleges.

Deadlines still loom around the country for incoming students, current college students and colleges themselves. The education department has said the delays will be addressed by the middle of March.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is for incoming and current college students to apply for work-study funding, federal student loans, college grants and state-based aid for the next academic year. Many students decide where they can afford to attend based on what they receive in financial aid.

What does Central Oregon Community College advise?

Students at Central Oregon Community College are having difficulties in getting the application finished. What’s frustrating for Breana Sylwester , financial aid director, is that the college cannot help students because the issues have yet to be fixed.

“What we’re telling students is: ‘We see you; we hear you; we know these issues are real, and we know the department of education is aware and working on them,’” said Sylwester. “What is happening now are some pretty big changes.”

Several years ago, the education department began releasing the application in October rather than January, which gave colleges more time and flexibility to create financial aid offers and students more time to assess them and make a decision before deadlines, said Sylwester.

The overhaul of the application has been needed for a long time, and the process has good intentions, she said. There is a new online platform for the application, and changes have been made in how colleges process financial aid. The recent Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act allows the education department to access tax information via the Internal Revenue Service to determine financial aid.

“Students don’t have to understand taxes; they don’t have to know the numbers, which is huge, ‘cause that’s the most daunting, overwhelming part of the FAFSA,” said Sylwester.

Some students aren’t having any problems with the application, while others cannot begin the process, are being logged out or are getting error messages.

Since COCC has rolling admission, there is no traditional decision day the way there is at four-year universities. Students apply and register for terms right up until two weeks before classes start, said Jenn Kovitz, marketing and public relations director.

The college is not necessarily behind in processing, and has more adaptability due to its looser deadlines.

“We are going to be flexible with our students,” said Sylwester.

COCC’s scholarships have their own deadlines, though filling out the federal aid application or the Oregon Student Aid Application is recommended.

A waiting game for students

Lina McDonald, a 17-year-old senior at Summit High School, said she and most of her friends have been able to complete and send the application. However, it’s still a waiting game for the education department to send her information to the 22 schools she’s applied to.

She’s ultimately interested in going into medicine, she said.

Oregon State University extended its advanced tuition deposit deadline to June 1 for full-time first-year students for the Corvallis and Cascades campuses due to expected delays from the education department. Other deadlines have also been extended, including those for scholarships and financial aid, said Jane Reynolds, director of enrollment services at OSU-Cascades.

OSU staff in Corvallis process the branch campus’ financial aid information, while OSU-Cascades processes admissions information.

Reynolds said, “We’ve really had to take a look at what we normally do, and we’ve definitely made some changes. We know that financial aid is important to our students and their families, and sometimes their financial aid award is the difference between whether they go to college or not.”

More Information

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid can be found at the Federal Student Aid website. A list of known issues and workarounds with the 2024-25 FAFSA can be found at the Federal Student Aid Partners website.

Applications for 2024-25 opened in December 2023.