Houston colleges navigate enrollment changes due to FAFSA problems
Houston - After a year of delays and issues with the new Federal Application for Financial Student Aid, or FAFSA form, some education experts have expected college enrollments to decline this fall.
Fewer students filed the form and the delays made it difficult for many students who did file it to determine which school they could afford to attend.
The journal "Inside Higher Education," reports a handful of colleges around the country have announced layoffs or program cuts, citing declining enrollment and FAFSA delays. Schools making cuts include the University of New Orleans, Western Illinois University, and Valparaiso.
OTHER SMART SEN$E: Houston renters find relief with PadSplit's co-living spaces
We asked Houston area colleges if the FAFSA delays are impacting fall enrollment.
The University of Houston sent us a statement reading: "Only a small percentage of the University of Houston student population is still impacted by the delayed 2024-2025 FAFSA release. The vast majority of our students have now been able to submit their FAFSA and have been offered financial aid for the 2024-2025 year. We do not expect any disbursement delays for students who have accepted their financial aid offers."
A Rice University spokesperson tells us, "We are still experiencing delays with receiving FAFSA data from some students. However, we are managing these such that students’ access to aid and their ability to begin the academic year are not impacted at Rice."
We also talked to Lone Star College.
DOWNLOAD THE FOX 26 HOUSTON APP BY CLICKING HERE
"As far as enrollment, we are almost to where we were this time last year, but slightly down approximately one percent. That could be related to people learning about options for financial aid, and the natural issues we had a few weeks ago," said Dr. Gerald Napoles of Lone Star College, referring to Hurricane Beryl.
"We are in the position where we have more students eligible for financial aid than we had last year, and the amount of available awards is higher than it was," said Napoles.
OTHER SMART SEN$E: Houston renters find relief with PadSplit's co-living spaces
Napoles explained that those higher amounts of aid are due in part to the new FAFSA's aim of helping qualified students to receive Pell Grants.
The National College Attainment Network reports FAFSA completions by high school seniors were down about 30% nationwide in the Spring, but are now down just 10% as of July.
In Texas, NCAN reports completions were down 30% in the Spring, but are down just 11% as of July.
For students who didn't file the FAFSA application, or delayed their college plans, colleges encourage them to file the form and contact their target school's financial aid office for help navigating the situation.