Update – March 13, 2024
According to information released by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) last evening, the transmission of student information has or will soon begin to ramp up.
They anticipate being caught up within a “couple of weeks.”
As of this morning, no school we spoke with had received any records. This includes public and private schools, including one Ivy League.
We did not contact any state agencies.
For students who have a contributor without a Social Security number, ED issued this update.
ED continues to issue system fixes as new issues arise.
We remain hopeful that ED will get on track, so students will finally know how much aid they will receive this year.
Your March 2024 FAFSA Update
There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it appears it isn’t the Bullet Train.
According to the latest information released by the Dept. of Ed (ED)/Federal Student Aid (FSA), student information, known as Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) will begin to flow to schools and state agencies in the first half of this month.
The Updated FAFSA Process for March 2024
FSA has already started sending out “test” files to allow them to work on any remaining bugs in the system.
Small batch testing of student data (known in the industry as Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs)) will follow to a limited number of selected institutions by mid-March.
There is no public information on which institutions or exactly how many will be the first to receive student data and there isn’t an exact date given. The latest ED release indicated it would be “a few dozen” institutions.
It is important to note that not all universities use the same database system. What works well on one may not function the same on another. We can hope that adequate testing has been performed on each platform.
Online information will be transmitted ahead of paper forms.
The initial sending of information will be limited to a small group of selection institutions. Once all is confirmed to be going well, all concerned parties will start receiving student data in the following weeks.
Yes, weeks. This situation will not be cleared up in a couple of days.
With so many issues (known and unknown) on a still not fully tested platform, it is prudent to proceed this way.
Don’t Delay Submitting Your Application
If you have not already filed your FAFSA, you are encouraged to do it now for two reasons:
- The FAFSA (studentsid.gov) system will be paused during the initial transmission of ISIRs. There’s no indication of how long the pause will be.
- The system was offline on 03/08 from 3:00 AM until shortly after noon.
- We’ll let you know of other announced system outages.
- Late filers will be held at the back of the line. In other words, if you are the last in – you will be the last out.
- This could have serious implications for your institutional aid and state aid, if applicable.
- Most states have priority consideration dates. March 15 in some cases.
- This could have serious implications for your institutional aid and state aid, if applicable.
You have no control over how ED meets its obligations, but you should do everything possible to be in the best position for maximum aid.
**March 7-8, 2024 – UPDATE**
This announcement just came to our attention. Plan accordingly.
The application was back online shortly after noon on 03/08.
None of our contacts have reported receiving “real” student data.
Lacking Social Security Numbers
Students who have been unable to file their FAFSAs because their parents lack Social Security numbers will be able to file later this month. Details of how and when are scant, but the promise has been made.
Conclusion
Given all that has happened with this new FAFSA, it’s hard to be confident that all will proceed smoothly from here, but time will tell.
Catch up on what happened over the years with the implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Act.
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