By summertime, most prospective college students know which school they're attending and how much they have to pay in tuition.
But not Viviana Gonzalez.
The Sumner High School graduate started filling out the FAFSA, or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, back in January. But a technical issue prevented her from completing the parents' portion of the form for months.
The FAFSA system kept rejecting her parents' email, so the income and tax information needed to determine her financial aid package could not be completed.
"Every time I tried and called for help, they (FAFSA system) would hang up on me. And we would be on wait for an hour. And they just never responded," Gonzalez said.
She was getting nervous. Gonzalez wants to enroll in the veterinarian tech program at Hillsborough Community College in the fall, then transfer to a university.
So, when she saw a flyer for a FAFSA completion event at the University of South Florida, she took the opportunity.
Viviana and her dad drove 40 minutes from Wimauma early Saturday morning. With the help of a FAFSA expert, they were able to figure out the issue in a few hours. They created a new account for her dad so they can finally begin filling out the rest of the application.
"I started this Jan. 8," Viviana said in disbelief.
But, now, she breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
Efforts are ramping up in the summer
FAFSA completion events like these are not typically held in the summer. But delays to the new form mean some students are still playing catch-up.
Nationally, about 46% of high school graduates have completed the FAFSA. That's a decrease of about 11% compared with July of last year.
In Florida, the completion rate is closer to 35%, placing the state 48th in the nation.
The state saw its completed FAFSA forms drop by 13,200 this year.
To try and close the gap, about $50 million in federal funding is going to local college access groups across the nation so they can reach more students this summer.
Jerrica Peets is the program manager for LEAP Tampa Bay. The college access group received some of that funding to host the event at USF.
"We're trying to catch as many of those students as we can," said Peets. "This is an event where they can come in, sit down with the expert, and actually go through the entire form and ask their questions."
Peets said about 30 families sent an RSVP to the event. LEAP Tampa Bay is planning to host more FAFSA clinics throughout the summer.
Barriers remain
Experts are worried that fewer FAFSA submissions means college enrollment, which has been declining for years, will take another hit.
"Completing a FAFSA is a very solid indicator that, yes, indeed, a student is making that plan and that is to go on to a technical school or community college or even a four-year university," said Jennifer Vigne, who heads the Education Foundation of Sarasota County.
The group's local college access network PLANit Sarasota is also putting on FAFSA events this summer. Vigne pointed out that post-secondary education is becoming more important than ever.
Nearly 72% of all jobs by 2031 are going to require some level of post-secondary education, according to a report from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce.
Financial barriers are the biggest reasons why people don't go to college.
So with the addition of FAFSA issues, lower-income families are impacted the most, said Vigne. Students are delaying college decisions because not knowing how much you have to pay is, like, "trying to buy a car without a price tag on it."
"The financial aid package is the decision of go or no go," Vigne said.
For Sarasota Military Academy graduate Nathaniel Mahadeo, getting that price tag was crucial.
Mahadeo wants to study computer science and law. He had applied to 20 schools, which he eventually narrowed to the University of Florida and University of Notre Dame.
Notre Dame, an expensive private university, is his dream school.
"It really came down to how much I'd eventually end up having to pay," he said.
The new FAFSA was supposed to make the process easier, but a late rollout in January meant less time for students to fill out the form and for colleges to award aid packages. Typically, the FAFSA is available in October.
A host of technical issues, including errors in the funding formula and issues for parents who do not have a Social Security number, led to even further delays.
Mahadeo said that, even when he thought he had finished the form, colleges reached out saying they had not received certain tax and income information.
"They had to ask me for that information again. And on top of that information, they wanted additional information," said Mahadeo.
What was supposed to be an hourlong process took several days of calling and emailing financial aid offices during the busy finals season of his senior year.
"I had to take time out of my day, which I could be using for studying, and say, 'Hello, what do I do? What can I do? What should I do?' " he said.
The extra work was worth it, though, said Mahadeo. After seeing his final aid offers from his top schools, he decided to commit to Notre Dame.
A combination of need-based aid, scholarships, work-study dollars and other grants would cover most of his tuition.
"It showed that, 'OK, I can make this work,' " Mahadeo said.
