BIDDEFORD, Maine — May 1 marks an important milestone for many incoming college freshmen—it's Decision Day, when students commit to where they will spend the next four years of their academic journey.
This year, however, delays in the revamped Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) program are causing some schools to move their acceptance deadlines beyond Wednesday.
The redesigned FAFSA form was supposed to simplify the financial aid application process by having automatic data retrieval of tax information from the IRS.
"The FAFSA rollout has been a bit of a disaster," Scott Steinberg, the University of New England's vice president for university admissions, said.
The updated FAFSA was supposed to launch Oct. 1 but didn't go live until Dec. 30. Students then experienced a host of technical problems filling out the required forms on the site.
"We had seen early on the problems that folks were having with the FAFSA so we extended our response deadline to June 1," Steinberg said.
The University of New England is the first school in Maine and one of the first in New England to extend its acceptance deadline. The school has received FAFSA information from 43% of accepted students.
"Typically by this time, that number would be around 73%," Steinberg said.
In February, the University of Maine System announced it would begin sending out estimated financial aid award letters to students.
University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy expressed optimism.
"In spite of the problems with FAFSA, I expect this year to be better than last year in terms of enrollment," Malloy said, adding the final count of freshman students isn't measured until October.
