Students and families affected by FAFSA hold up

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The Department of Education announced Wednesday that FAFSA forms for next year's college students will not be fully launched until December 1st, two months behind normal.

We spoke with colleges around the state to see how they are being impacted.

Unfortunately, some student's won't be able to pay their bills before classes start, but university's are working to help those affected.

Earlier this year, the Department of Education rolled out a new financial aid form, which expanded eligibility and cut the number of questions from 103 to about 20.

The new form came out two months later than expected and had a lot of glitches. Back in April, officials promised a fix.

"People are working seven days a week here, long nights to make sure that it's going to be possible for people to get their eight offers," James Kvaal, Undersecretary of Education said.

Flash forward to now, just a week before the start of classes and things aren't much better.

"I can say in 23 years of doing this, this is the first time anything like this ever happened," Kevin Windholz, Vice President for Enrollment Management at Oklahoma City University said.

This week the Education Department announced it would not accept "batch corrections" from colleges and universities, meaning every student that had an issue would have to be submitted individually.

An incorrect form means students don't know how much financial aid they'll get, just days before they'll need to finalize payment for tuition, books and in some cases, housing.

"It caused families to commit much later because they weren't able to see the full financial aid picture," Windholz said.

Oklahoma City University isn't the only institution facing obstacles.

Both Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma said they are tackling the issue as well.

OU Bursar Services is aware of the issues with FAFSA corrections and is working closely with Financial Aid to identify students impacted. We will ensure they are not penalized for issues outside their control. Students experiencing issues are encouraged to contact the Student Financial Center at sfc@ou.edu.

University of Oklahoma

OSU will continue to do its part to ensure students receive the appropriate federal funding. We know this dynamic situation has been challenging for some of our students, and we’re doing everything we can to proactively communicate with families and remain flexible as we receive ongoing updates from the Department of Education.

Oklahoma State University

Windholz is holding out hope that things will improve by application time for the 2025 school year, but believes more problems are ahead.

"As in past years, we're always available to families to fill out beginning October 1st," Windholz said. "Every indication we've had so far from the Department of Education has said that it will be more like December 1st, that it's ready for the next year rather than October. So, looks like another delay."

Each university says if students and families believe they are affected, to reach out to the financial aid or bursar offices to get things corrected as quickly as possible.