Following the recent changes made to and subsequent delays with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), Oakland University’s Student Financial Services (SFS) is hosting “FAFSA Fridays” every Friday in Feb. between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. in North Foundation Hall (NFH), Room 120.
The U.S. Department of Education did not release the 2024-2025 FAFSA application until Dec. 2023 instead of the standard Oct. 1. due to changes made per the FAFSA Simplification Act.
“Because this was such a new experience for students, we wanted to be as accessible and available to students as we possibly could be to help them through the process,” Nicole Boelk, Director of Student Financial Services, said. “Of course, our office is always available to help students with FAFSA completion, but we wanted to bring focus and dedication to the FAFSA process this year just because of how much it has changed.”
Some of the changes to the application process include the necessity of contributors’ consent to have their federal tax information transferred from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), students or parents now having to invite contributors to finish their sections and fewer questions.
“The FAFSA in general is supposed to be simplified for students to be able to submit,” Boelk said.
Additionally, the methodology for determining financial aid eligibility has changed, allowing more students to receive more aid. An additional $1.8 billion of federal aid will be available.
“With every new change, there’s of course going to be speed bumps along the way,” Boelk said. “We want to be a resource so that if a student is struggling or a family is struggling with the new FAFSA process, we might be able to navigate that FAFSA process in a little bit different way based on the experiences that we have to help families complete the form and get them past those speed bumps.”
Due to the delays, OU will not be able to release financial aid offers to students by Fall 2024 registration in March.
“We are going to be well into the spring timeframe before we’ll be able to produce financial aid offers for students because we need the FAFSA data to give out offers,” Boelk said. “Until that mid-March timeframe, if students need to make any types of corrections to an already submitted FAFSA, they won’t be able to. The Department of Education first needs to process their initial FAFSA before corrections can be made.”
Students are encouraged to bring what was previously known as their FSA IDs and their 2022 federal tax returns when attending FAFSA Fridays in case information needs to be manually entered.
Additionally, students are encouraged to attend FAFSA Fridays with any contributors — parents and spouses — as each contributor must fill out their section. High school seniors who are planning on attending OU in the fall are also encouraged to seek assistance from SFS.
No appointment is required for assistance during FAFSA Fridays. Students who are not available to attend during those periods can schedule virtual appointments with SFS for assistance. For more information about SFS, visit their website.
