On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that extends the California deadline to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) till May 2.
The news comes as a relief for students who’ve been struggling to submit their information on the U.S. Department of Education's new website. It also gives colleges more time to gather the data they need to provide financial aid packages.
Colleges use FAFSA data to calculate how much students will pay to go to their campus. With this information, they provide offers composed of grants, loans, scholarships, and work-study.
But because of delays at the federal level, some colleges are still waiting to receive a large chunk of that data.
Typically Cal Poly Pomona would have sent out its financial aid packages by now. This year, campus staff are aiming to start sending them out by mid-April.
“We’ve had about 9,000 FAFSAs come in, and, in a year, we normally process 70,000,” said Jeanette Phillips, director of financial aid and scholarships at Cal Poly Pomona.
To make sure funding remains available for students who are just getting their FAFSAs in, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has asked colleges to push back their aid deadlines.
There have also been other issues. On Friday, the Department of Education said about 200,000 records will have to be reprocessed, this after discovering that its system miscalculated the financial need of dependent students who reported assets.
The UC and CSUs have also given incoming first-year students more time to accept admission offers. At most campuses, the deadline is set for May 15. And some — including Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Dominguez Hills, and Cal State Northridge — are giving students till June 1 to commit.
About 70% of Cal Poly Pomona students have some form of financial aid.
“First-generation, low income students are a large part of our population, and we're all about social mobility,” said Jessica Wagoner, senior associate vice president for enrollment management and services at Cal Poly Pomona. “So we understand the importance of getting this information before you make this major decision in your life.”
