1 in 4 Students Faced Challenges Staying Enrolled Due to FAFSA Delays, Survey Finds
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34% of students report that FAFSA rollout delays affected their ability to file the application.- Latino/a students are more likely than white students (44% vs. 30%) to report trouble filing the FAFSA.
- 36% of Black students and 31% of Latino/a students say delays with the FAFSA rollout impacted their ability to stay enrolled.
- 29% of first-generation college students say FAFSA issues impacted their ability to stay enrolled in their programs.
A new BestColleges survey reveals that issues with the 2024-2025 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) materially influenced students’ ability to apply for financial aid — and even stay enrolled in their programs.
Among 1,000 current undergraduate and graduate students surveyed, 1 in 4 (25%) say FAFSA delays affected their ability to stay enrolled in their current programs.
Additionally, while the new FAFSA was supposed to be simpler than in past years, 40% of students say it was more difficult than the previous system. Roughly one-third of students (34%) say FAFSA delays caused them filing difficulties.
Millions of students complete the FAFSA each year to apply for federal financial aid, including Pell Grants and student loans. The Department of Education typically releases the form on Oct. 1 each year. However, the rollout of the 2024-2025 form was delayed by nearly three months. Even after the form was available, many students and families reported technical issues that prevented them from filing a form for weeks, sometimes months.
Many student advocates and financial aid experts worried that FAFSA issues would cause some students to forsake college enrollment for the 2024-2025 academic year. Survey responses seem to confirm some of these suspicions.
Delays Upended Filing Process for Students of Color, First-Generation College Students
It’s clear that FAFSA delays impacted many students’ ability to file the application, but those difficulties weren’t uniform across all demographics.
Nearly half of Latino/a students (47%) report that they had a harder time filing their FAFSA in 2024-2025 compared to the previous year. That may be in part due to the unique difficulties that affected students with at least one undocumented or noncitizen parent.
Approximately 30% of white, 36% of Black, and 44% of Latino/a students say delays impacted their ability to file their FAFSA.
Additionally, Black (36%) and Latino/a students (31%) are more likely than white students (21%) to report that FAFSA delays affected their ability to stay enrolled in their current program.
First-generation college students also experienced FAFSA-related problems more often than non-first-generation students.
Forty-three percent of first-generation students and 36% of non-first-generation students say this year’s form was more difficult to complete. Some 38% of first-generation students say delays impacted their ability to file the FAFSA, compared to just 29% of non-first-generation students. And, first-generation students are notably more likely to say FAFSA delays impacted their ability to stay enrolled than non-first-generation students (29% vs. 19%).
Overall, undergraduate students are more likely than graduate students to say the most recent FAFSA was harder to complete (42% vs. 34%).
However, undergraduates and graduate students are just as likely to report that the FAFSA delay affected their ability to re-enroll (25% and 24%, respectively).
Methodology
This survey was conducted from September 16-23, 2024, and was fielded by Pure Spectrum. Survey participants included 1,000 respondents nationwide who were currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program. Respondents were 18-39 years of age, with the majority (77%) ages 18-24, and currently pursuing an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, or professional degree. The respondents for the survey were screened by various quality checks, including systems like Relevant ID, and responses were manually reviewed to ensure consistency and accuracy.