What challenges with the new FAFSA process mean for students and higher ed

By Evan Dawson,

Published April 2, 2024 at 3:10 PM EDT

Four smiling women wearing headphones sit at a table in a radio talk studio: The woman front left has short brown hair and is wearing glasses and a light blue sweater; the woman front right has long grey and brown curly hair and is wearing glasses and a brown sweater; the woman back left has her dark hair in a bun and is wearing a yellow scarf and yellow jacket; the woman back right has shoulder-length brown hair and is wearing a dark top and dark blazer. — (foreground) Susan Romano, Meaghan Drumm, (background) Janee Slade, and Amy Stein on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Tuesday, April 2, 2024

A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.

The new FAFSA was supposed to make college financial aid easier to understand, easier to get. But the online system has been beset by problems, and now we could see delays in decisions, or worse: tens of thousands of fewer students going to college this fall.

So how can it get fixed in time to help students who need it the most?

Our guests discuss it:

Amy Stein, executive director of the Rochester Education Foundation
Janee Slade, director of college access programs at the Rochester Education Foundation
Meaghan Drumm, assistant vice president of financial aid and scholarships at RIT
Susan Romano, executive director of financial aid and enrollment management at SUNY Geneseo
Jerome St. Croix, director of financial aid at MCC