FAFSA Updates
Overview
Below is a Q&A about the status of financial aid disbursements.
Will disbursements be paused for B-term book charging?
For Fall 2024 disbursements will continue to process during the B-term book charging period. There will not be a pause.
When will financial aid be disbursed to students? Are there different disbursement dates for different types of aid?
The Financial Aid Office expects to begin the disbursement process in late September. This is a little later than the usual disbursement dates in a typical year without federal delays and other external factors. However, as always, disbursement dates for individual students can vary due to several factors. Some financial aid accounts are more complex and require additional steps before aid can be disbursed. Additionally, some funds are not available to the college until later in the term and are disbursed when received.
The College also must ensure the entire financial aid package is accurate before any funds can be disbursed. This is to prevent students from being over-awarded, which could result in having to repay excess funds. This means the disbursement of non-federal funds, such as scholarships, are impacted by challenges with federal financial aid.
Santa Fe College offers numerous Emergency Resources to help students impacted by this delay.
How has FAFSA impacted when financial aid disbursements will begin?
The federal financial aid process began an enormous transition following passage of the FAFSA Simplification Act and the Future Act. The intent was to simplify the application and streamline the process of applying for and receiving aid, making aid more accessible to more people. It was the largest overhaul ever of federal financial aid, including adjustments to the Pell Grant formula.
As has been widely reported, the new FAFSA application rolled out in December 2023, about 3 months after it is typically available, and was met with immediate technical issues, beginning the cascading delays. Some issues were related to missing or incorrect data from other federal systems, such as the IRS. As these issues were resolved, millions of applications had to be reprocessed, resulting in unexpected changes in students' financial aid eligibility.
Then, once an aid package is received by the College from the U.S. Department of Education, there are more steps to verify information and process aid. Further, the processing of important aid-related tasks for schools, including making corrections to students' FAFSAs related to special situations, was significantly delayed. Many issues persisted for months, some of which now require manual and slower processing.
Additionally, aid packages, while typically heavy with federal aid, such as a Pell Grant, also often contain institutional aid like scholarships, which means this aid was affected as well.
How has Santa Fe College "integrating new systems" impacted when financial aid disbursements will begin?
To better respond to the regulatory and process changes in the FAFSA, Santa Fe introduced the use of Regent, a state-of-the-art financial aid management system. As with any new system, the College experienced some learning curves. Ultimately, however, Regent is helping to keep the award process moving forward, despite delays at the federal level. Regent will play a significant role in improving the student experience.
How is the college working with local apartments and rental agencies?
The college is providing students with a letter explaining the impact of FAFSA delays and the anticipated disbursement period and requested an understanding of students' ability to meet their rent obligations. In some cases, letters were sent directly to apartment complex management
Will this delay happen for the Spring or Summer semesters?
Delays are not anticipated in future terms, but the college will be prepared to support students should challenges arise, especially related to external (federal and state) factors.