FAFSA

The new form, which students fill out to get financial aid to go to college, went live in November.

The availability of last year's application, and subsequently students' aid packages, was delayed several times while the Department of Education worked to update the form.

The new FAFSA was supposed to make filling out the federal aid form easier, but issues with the rollout had the opposite effect. Fewer students have filled out the FAFSA, so efforts are underway to close that gap.

This week on The Florida Roundup, we discuss the state’s infant mortality rate, how a revamped federal form for financial aid for students is causing delays, fallout over a dubious major gift donation to Florida A&M, a deadly bus crash near Ocala and severe weather in the Panhandle. We also heard from our listeners from last week's mailbag.

Some students are fixing their FAFSA forms or awaiting aid packages with little time to decide to which college they'll commit.

Students are still waiting on financial aid packages due to FAFSA delays. Some of Florida's largest universities are giving the incoming class more time to decide on committing to their school.

The next round of Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms is set to start Dec. 31. The Department of Education estimates 610,000 new students will be eligible for a Pell Grant.

The FAFSA isn't just for four-year universities — you can get help paying for technical and vocational school too. But in order to qualify for grants and scholarships, advisors say students should fill out the form as soon as possible.

Undergraduate enrollment continues to drop, and the college landscape has changed drastically since the pandemic.

The FAFSA uses tax data from two years ago to determine a student's eligibility for financial aid for college. But if your financial situation has changed since then, there are ways to get more money.

The U.S. Department of Education has developed a new smartphone app that it hopes will make the notoriously difficult Free Application For Federal Student Aid a little easier.

The IRS Data Retrieval Tool has been temporarily disabled for security concerns. Without it, many at-risk students will have a harder time finishing their paperwork.