PORTLAND, Ore. — Delays from the Department of Education in federal aid information has left colleges across the country unable to determine scholarship offers for prospective students and high school seniors uncertain over where they could be enrolling.
More than three million seniors have applied for FAFSA. This week, the Department of Education announced colleges will have to wait until March 15 to learn about the financial information of applicants. Those schools are unable to offer accurate scholarship packages to families until they can access that data.
"It's kind of terrifying," Jacob Allred, a senior at Lincoln High School, said.
For the past few months, Allred has been waiting to hear back from colleges about what financial aid he’s eligible to receive.
"It's a little bit stressful," Allred said.
College administrators told KGW there was a glitch in the Department of Education’s system, which is being fixed.
"This really throws us off," said Jim Brooks, the University of Oregon Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships.
Usually, the University of Oregon begins to receive FAFSA information in October, Brooks said. Other school administrators said in a normal year, they would’ve handed out scholarships months ago.
"In a normal year, we would actually have financial award letters out as early as late November," said Mai Nhia Xiong-Chan, the University of Portland's Vice President of Enrollment Management, said.
Now, Xiong-Chan is worried the delay could result in some students deciding not to go to college.
"One of my biggest concerns is the most economically vulnerable students within our college-going population just choosing not to go to college at all because they don't believe it's affordable," Xiong-Chan said.
Some college administrators remain uncertain if the data from the Department of Education will arrive by mid-March, though they said they will be ready for data — as soon as it arrives.
"We will be ready to go as fast as we can," Brooks said.
The University of Portland and University of Oregon both plan to have scholarship details to families by April. Generally, administrators would have months to distribute final aid packages. This year, some schools will have just a few weeks.
"We will do it because we have to do it," Brooks said.