PENNSYLVANIA, USA — After a long delay, the Department of Education has put out a new version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.
But its "soft launch" already hitting some snags.
"Some log-on challenges, site availability challenges, that's what we've heard so far," said Christopher Hanlon, director of financial aid at Lebanon Valley College.
Hanlon is already hearing from students and parents concerned about the issues, and how they could impact their financial aid offers.
"What we're trying to do is keep families calm," said Hanlon. "Within the financial aid community, we're used to the complications of these systems but families are not."
FOX43 tried to visit the FAFSA website multiple times Tuesday and got a "please wait" screen. At the time this article was published, the site appeared to be working.
FAFSA applications normally open on Oct. 1, but the new form's launch was delayed until late December.
The delay stems from a Congress-ordered update to the form, which expands eligibility for financial aid, and streamlines the application process.
"Some colleges, it may delay the offer, other colleges have other forms they use where they may be able to give families a financial aid offer even with the FAFSA delay," said Diona Brown, manager of PA School Services at Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, a national provider of financial aid services, serving millions of students and thousands of schools through a variety of student aid programs.
"Financial aid offices nationwide will not have access to results of the FAFSA until the third or fourth week of this month," added Hanlon. "So families who are doing the form, or attempting to do it, won't really hear from financial aid offices until the third week of this month."
The new version will also no longer give families a break for having multiple kids in college at the same time.
"That calculation is no longer part of the analysis but most financial aid offices, including [Lebanon Valley College's], are going to be looking at the number [of kids] in college," explained Hanlon.
For now, Hanlon says it's a waiting game for everyone, but encourages families to lean on their school financial aid office.
"Even though we knew it was going to be delayed, we expected it a little bit earlier in December," said Hanlon. "It's added on some challenges but nothing that can't be overcome."
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