FAFSA

I thought my FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) days were over, but this winter I helped two high school seniors complete their applications. One of the kids is my nephew (Manyu’s brother’s son). The other is the daughter of a friend. Much has been written in the press about the Department of Education’s failed attempts to simplify the application, but I suspect that the only people to read those articles carefully are people who’ve tried and failed to complete a FAFSA form themselves. The process is a mess.

At first glance, the application process does seem simpler and more straightforward than it used to be. This false impression holds true right up to the point where applicants navigate themselves into a corner. In my nephew’s case, this happened when he completed the income section of the form. After listing the annual earnings for both him and his parents, he was instructed to go no further until the numbers could be confirmed with the IRS database. This was going to take days, not minutes or hours. Three days later, my nephew received an email stating that he’d made a mistake on his application by listing detailed information about his mom, but not his dad. The email was correct; my nephew had listed information on only one parent, but he had done so because the FAFSA instructions had specifically told him to list only one parent if the two of them were living together and had filed a joint tax return. My nephew and I met a second time to add info on his dad to the application, but then had to wait another three days for the form to again link with the IRS. Three days later my nephew received an email stating that the dad’s portion of the application had been rejected. It was rejected because information on the second parent isn’t necessary when the parents file joint tax returns. 

My nephew did not know how to proceed, so he and I set up a third meeting to try to resolve the problem. Before we met, however, my nephew received still another email stating that his FAFSA application had been reviewed and accepted. This surprised both of us, because we didn’t think my nephew had completed the last part of the form. We were sure he hadn’t hit any kind of “submit” button. 

Helping the daughter of my friend was easier than helping my nephew, but even it had a glitch. When we got to the marital status of the parents, “widow” was not a choice. We tried a couple of other options (e.g., single parent), but in every instance the form wanted financial information about the dad. Out of frustration, I suggested we give the form its three days to link to the IRS on the mom and then try again. When we met four days later, “widow” had been added as an option and the form no longer asked about the dad. The rest of the form went smoothly.

The only reason I was working with these kids on their FAFSA forms was because their parents are first generation Asian Americans with limited English skills. What do other kids in the same situation do if they don’t have a native speaking adult to help them out?