The 'Better FAFSA' was not, but the University of Washington says it's getting there

When the U.S. Department of Education announced changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA, the agency said it would make applying for aid easier, and that the new formulas would mean more federal money for low-income families. When the “Better FAFSA" finally launched this past December, there were immediate problems.

To find out more about what happened and where students are now in the financial aid process, KUOW’s Kim Malcolm talked to Kay Lewis, the University of Washington's Assistant Vice Provost for Enrollment, and executive director for financial aid.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Kim Malcolm: When did you become aware of problems?

Kay Lewis: We became aware back in the fall. The FAFSA form is normally released on Oct. 1 for the next school year. We found out that the department was not going to make that date, and they weren't sure exactly when in the fall, they would release it. Eventually, they said sometime in December.

What were you dealing with at that point?

We really were seeing from students and parents that they were not able to access the form as they normally would. It would kick some students out. There were a lot of bugs and glitches as they tried to complete the form. There were some families where one of the parents didn't have a social security number. They weren't able to complete the form at all.

The other thing that happened is the Department of Education told us they wouldn't send us the output from the student's FAFSA form until much later in the process. Normally, we receive those results within a couple of days. So, students were experiencing this horrendous way of trying to get through and apply, couldn't do it, and we couldn't help them because we couldn't see what they were doing in the federal system. And there was really no fix available for them at that time.

It sounds like that might have been incredibly frustrating for you and the folks you work with.

It was. It was frustrating for us, because we feel how frustrated the students and families are and how anxious they are. This is an incredibly important process for them to find out how much aid they qualify for, and which schools can they afford to go to. Are they even going to be able to attend?When you're already anxious about your finances, when you run into a lot of problems, unfortunately, some people just give up. We're hoping that they will get back in there and go through the FAFSA, because many of those bugs have been worked out, and students are able to apply again for aid.

So it's not too late, even though people have been talking about a traditional May 1 deadline.

Right. For many schools, including ours, we're being very flexible with our deadlines. Our deadline at the University of Washington moved from May 1 to June 1 for new undergraduate students to make their commitment. Many schools across the nation are making those adjustments as well. Our main message is to please continue to apply, it's not too late. Funds are still available.

Even though our normal application deadline for priority in our system is someone who filed early or on time, we've extended that. Right now, everybody's on time, just because we know people are still trying to get through the process.

What are the most important things that you'll have to assess as you get closer to June 1?

We’re going to pick up new applications that come in for new students and continue to award them. And we're trying to keep enough funds on hand so no matter when you applied, or when you finally got your FAFSA through, we still have the same funding to offer you. And programs like the Pell Grant and the Washington College Grant, those funds don't run out. So they can continue to apply and they will receive those funds if they are eligible.

It is important to note that now many of the bugs are out of this FAFSA. It really is an easier process. If you start now, you're not going to experience some of the headaches that other families experienced. It does go quite quickly. And we are seeing that there are more students that are receiving Pell Grants than last year. So, although the rollout has certainly been messy and not the way it should have been in the long term, we think that families really are going to benefit from this.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.