Buggy FAFSA website causes issues for MN students seeking financial aid

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Anahi Sanchez has just finished her sophomore year at Macalester College in St. Paul, a school she calls "my perfect place," but an expensive education made possible by a bevy of student aid.

This spring got more stressful trying to secure financial aid for the fall because the Federal Application For Student Aid (FAFSA) application process became a nightmare.

"Well, I tried it by the end of February, because that’s when it was ready to go," Sanchez said. "But it wasn’t ready to go!"

When the revamped online application site for FAFSA launched in January, it was supposed to be simpler. But simply, it didn’t work. And a lot of students and their parents gave up trying until the bugs got worked out.

"No, I couldn’t get it completed," explained Sanchez about her attempts in February.  "There were some questions I didn’t know how to answer because they were worded very weird."

She finally got the application to work in March, but it took a lot of work. However, many students haven’t got it done, waiting for the site to work again.

"Now we can confidently say you no longer need to wait," said Dennis Olson of the Minnesota Department of Higher Education, "It is working now."

But Minnesota still lags 16% behind the number of FAFSA applications processed this time one year ago. Nationally, the number is higher, at nearly 24%.

And FAFSA is the required first step to apply for a wide variety of state and federal tuition assistance programs.

"It matters because every year $2.6 billion in financial aid is awarded to students attending college in Minnesota," said Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, encouraging students and their families to try again.

To help get this done, the state has given $15,000 grants to two programs: College Possible and Achieve Twin Cities. The money allows them to keep staff throughout the summer to open up their services to any student who needs help with the application process.

"We’re expanding our free financial aid support services and making ourselves available to any student in Minnesota, not just those who are in our program," explained Isaiah Allen of College Possible.

Many schools are delaying their decision deadlines to allow for students who’ve been delayed by the buggy FAFSA system.

"If this roadblock in this process is becoming a challenge to you, and you are even doubting attending college, there is still time," said Omar Correa, a VIce President at the University of St. Thomas.

As for Sanchez, she made it work after early visits to the Macalester College financial aid office. She encourages all students to try again and don’t be afraid to ask for as much help as you can get.

"Like I don’t regret going to the financial aid office at 8 a.m. at all. I don’t regret that, because eventually they helped me," Sanchez said.