The delay stems from a change the U.S. Office of Federal Student Aid put into effect in April, updating fraud-prevention screening tied to the 2025 “One Big Beautiful Bill” signed by Republican lawmakers. As a result, universities — including the 23-campus Cal State system — received federal files detailing student aid awards five to six weeks later than usual.

That lag meant an unknown number of students didn’t find out their final aid amounts until just weeks before the start of the semester. Some learned the figures only after their original tuition deadlines had already passed. To avoid dropping students who hadn’t yet paid, campuses put safeguards in place to keep those with pending financial aid enrolled.

“This is very unusual,” said April Grommo, assistant vice chancellor for strategic enrollment management at the CSU Chancellor’s Office, of the timing disruption occurring mid-cycle.

It’s worth noting that the reporting delay is separate from the actual disbursement of aid. Federal rules already bar schools from releasing financial aid funds until within 10 days of the start of the academic term — and CSU classes were just getting underway this month.

Frustration surfaces online

The uncertainty spilled over into social media, with students posting worried messages on Reddit forums for several CSU campuses. One Cal State Fullerton student wrote on Aug. 1: “I’m really stressed because the semester starts Aug. 22 … and I don’t want to get dropped from any classes.” Similar concerns surfaced in Reddit threads tied to San Jose State, Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Northridge.

According to Grommo, students who submitted their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) before California’s March 2 priority deadline were not affected by the backlog.

Still, the scale of aid flowing through the CSU system is enormous. Last year, the university distributed roughly $5.5 billion to more than 385,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Grommo said financial aid staffers across CSU campuses put in extra hours trying to make up for the federal slowdown, though staffing shortages in several financial aid offices only compounded the challenge of getting timely information out to students.

Adding to the confusion, another provision in the 2025 federal law lowered the caps on how much students and parents can borrow for college. Those new limits took effect this year, likely catching some students who rely on loans off guard. Even so, about 65% of CSU undergraduates who earn a bachelor’s degree graduate without any loan debt.

Despite the online chatter, the California State Student Association — the system’s undergraduate student government — hasn’t seen evidence of a widespread crisis, according to executive director Joe Nino. “At this time, CSSA is not aware of this being a systemic issue,” Nino wrote in an email. “Our understanding is that safeguards are in place to ensure students are not dropped from their classes due to FAFSA delays.”

Sydney Yee, vice president of the Associated Students at Cal State Fullerton and a senior finance major, said her office hasn’t fielded complaints accusing campus officials of being unresponsive. Yee herself had questions about her own aid package and called the financial aid office over the summer, saying she received helpful guidance. Reddit users offered similar advice to anxious classmates: call your campus financial aid office, and don’t give up after one attempt.

“Something I think financial aid staff have done really well here is stay very proactive about these delays,” Yee said, pointing to explanatory emails and Instagram posts from the university clarifying why some students saw course-drop notifications on their accounts — and why those holds were later lifted.

Grommo said those notifications were meant to reassure students. If an enrollment hold was lifted and a student remained registered, that generally meant the university had confirmed the student’s account was in good standing.

Jessicca Barco, associate vice president for strategic enrollment management at Cal State Fullerton, said returning students typically receive their financial aid information between May and June. That timing exists in part to make sure students meet federal academic-progress requirements before aid is finalized. Because of this year’s federal delay, about 23,000 returning Fullerton students didn’t receive their aid notifications until last Friday. The campus pushed back its tuition payment deadline to Aug. 19 — weeks later than the mid-July deadline many students are used to.

Why some students wait longer

Grommo said there are several reasons certain students end up waiting longer than others for their aid to be finalized — in past years, some didn’t receive final numbers until October. Students who filed their FAFSA later in the summer, rather than in late winter, are more likely to experience delays. Others may have been flagged for a financial verification review to confirm eligibility, or may need to appeal after falling below the grade requirements tied to continued aid eligibility. Sudden changes in family income that weren’t reflected on the original application can also slow the process.

“Most students get through the process just fine, but of course, the small group that doesn’t get through smoothly is the group that really generates the biggest problems,” Grommo said.

Her advice to students: make sure your school email account is set up correctly, since campuses often rely solely on that address rather than a personal email — and keep calling your financial aid office if answers aren’t coming quickly.

By Wednesday, Cal State Fullerton students had finally received their financial aid disbursements.

Original source: CalMatters

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At the heart of the delay is a change the U.S. Office of Federal Student Aid made in April to strengthen fraud protections, a move tied to the 2025 federal budget legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. As a result, Cal State campuses received the federal data needed to calculate student aid packages five to six weeks later than usual this year.

That lag meant some students didn’t get firm numbers on their grants and loans until just weeks — or in some cases days — before instruction began. A number of students discovered their aid amounts only after the standard deadline to pay tuition had already passed. Fortunately, most CSU campuses had safeguards in place so students wouldn’t be dropped from classes while their aid was still being processed.

April Grommo, assistant vice chancellor for strategic enrollment management at the CSU Chancellor’s Office, called the mid-cycle disruption highly unusual. She emphasized that the delay in learning aid amounts is a separate issue from actually receiving funds — by federal rule, students can’t receive their aid disbursements until within 10 days of the start of the term, which for most CSU campuses falls in August.

Frustration bubbled up on social media, with students at Cal State Fullerton, San Jose State, Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Northridge posting on Reddit about the wait and their fears of being dropped from courses. One Fullerton student wrote in early August that the uncertainty was unsettling with the semester bearing down.

According to Grommo, students who submitted their FAFSA applications by California’s March 2 priority deadline were largely spared from the worst of the delays. But the scale of CSU’s financial aid operation — roughly $5.5 billion distributed last year to more than 385,000 undergraduate and graduate students — meant that even a modest disruption created ripple effects. Financial aid staff across the system put in extra hours to catch up, a task made more difficult by staffing shortages at several campuses.

Complicating matters further, the same federal law introduced new, lower borrowing caps for both students and parents, which took effect this year. The change may have blindsided some families who were counting on loans to cover costs, though CSU officials note that about 65% of undergraduates who complete a bachelor’s degree in the system do so without any loan debt.

Despite the anxiety online, the California State Student Association — the CSU system’s undergraduate student government — said it hasn’t seen widespread reports of students being harmed by the delays. “At this time, CSSA is not aware of this being a widespread issue,” said Joe Nino, the association’s executive director, noting that safeguards remain in place to prevent students from losing their class schedules over aid processing delays.

At Cal State Fullerton, student government vice president Sydney Yee, a rising senior studying finance, said her office hadn’t fielded complaints about unresponsive financial aid staff. She had her own questions about her aid package this summer and found the campus financial aid office responsive when she called for help — advice echoed by students online urging their peers to be patient but persistent in reaching out directly.

“Something I think the financial aid office has done very well here has been staying proactive with these delays,” Yee said, pointing to campus emails and Instagram posts explaining why some students briefly saw hold notices on their accounts warning of possible course drops, and why those holds were later cleared.

Grommo said those notifications were intended to reassure students, not alarm them — if a drop hold was lifted and a student remained enrolled, it meant the campus had verified the student was in good financial standing.

Jessicca Barco, associate vice president for strategic enrollment management at Cal State Fullerton, said returning students typically learn their aid amounts by May or June, timed to follow the confirmation of academic progress required to maintain eligibility. This year, because of the federal delay, roughly 23,000 returning Fullerton students didn’t get that information until last Friday. In response, the campus pushed its tuition payment deadline back to Aug. 19 — weeks later than the usual mid-July cutoff.

Grommo noted that late aid disbursements aren’t unheard of in any given year; some students historically haven’t received their packages until as late as October. Common causes include applying for aid later in the summer, being selected for a federal income verification review, falling below the GPA threshold required to keep receiving aid, or experiencing a sudden financial hardship not reflected in previously filed income information.

“The majority of students go through the process just fine,” Grommo said, “but of course, the small group that does not go through the process fine — those are the really major issues.”

Her advice for students navigating aid delays: check school-issued email accounts regularly, since some communications may not reach personal inboxes, and don’t hesitate to call the financial aid office directly for updates.

By Wednesday, Cal State Fullerton students had finally received their financial aid disbursements — just in time for the start of the fall term.

Original source: CalMatters

The post Cal State Students Faced Lengthy Delays in Financial Aid Decisions This Year, Here’s Why appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Awards range from $1,000 to more than $5,000, with many scholarships being renewable. The application deadline is 5 p.m. April 15.

While scholarships are available for graduating high school seniors and current college students, undergraduate or graduate, adult re-entry students and students with financial needs — including middle-income families — can apply.

Students attending community colleges or career/technical schools or four-year universities are also encouraged to apply.

A diverse range of scholarships is available.

Qualifications include: a minimum 2.0 GPA; a commitment to education, potential college success; participation in community service, extracurricular activities and/or work experience; being a current residence in San Bernardino or Riverside counties for at least one year; and demonstrating a need for assistance to pay for school.

Another significant requirement is to submit a completed FAFSA or CA Dream Act and Student Aid Report (SAR). IECF requires that information from all applicants.

Scholarship success stories abound.

In 2024, Kyra Boyle was a recipient of the Safe Schools Desert Cities Burton/May Pride Award. The unique award recognizes outstanding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning or intersex (LGBTQI) youth who have helped foster a positive self-image among other LGBTQI youth. The key scholarship factors included demonstrating participation, dedication and initiative.

“There are a lot of scholarships out there, and if a student is stressed about finances the way I was, I’d recommend reaching out to the college financial aid centers for guidance,” Boyle said of her process.

Then there’s IECF’s own board chair, Jesse Melgar. Determination drove Melgar’s college pursuits, but so did community support. He was able to secure $15,000 in scholarships, including one from IECF, which, at the time, was known as The Community Foundation.

Thanks to the funding, he was able to attend UCLA, where he became the first in his family to graduate from college.

Flash forward several years, and Melgar went on to earn a full-ride scholarship for his master’s degree at UC Riverside. A return to the Inland Empire followed, along with a big push to give back.

In addition to serving as IECF’s Board Chair, Melgar is also the founder of the CIELO Fund, which has been instrumental in uplifting Latino-led organizations and initiatives in the region.

Learn more at iegives.org/students/overview.

The Inland Empire Community Foundation works to strengthen Inland Southern California through philanthropy. Visit iegives.org.

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The April 2 deadline to apply for the need-based Cal Grant and Middle Class Scholarship that California funds will be pushed by a month, giving students more time to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The Democratic governor’s move is the latest in a series of attempts across the country to blunt the impact of widespread issues with the new form — from processing delays to technical problems — which have drawn Republican fury on Capitol Hill and frustrated parents and students.

The extension will “help ensure more California students are able to complete the FAFSA, avail themselves of state Cal Grant or Middle Class Scholarship financial aid, and enable them to access the financial resources to begin fulfilling their dreams of achieving higher education,” said Democratic Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, who authored the bill.

The bill was fast-tracked through the state Legislature last week and backed by the state’s public university systems. It’s meant to help applicants who have so far been unable to fill out the FAFSA — especially students whose parents are undocumented who for months couldn’t complete the form due to technical glitches.

The U.S. Department of Education resolved the issue for families of mixed immigration status this month, but took another step backward last week when it announced it had made errors in calculating around 200,000 student aid offers.

The near-constant technical problems with the online form have caused such a significant dropoff in applications in California that the state student aid commission estimates as much as $100 million could be awarded to students who apply over the next month. The two state aid programs award more than $2 billion each year, supplementing federal scholarships like the Pell Grant.

California public universities had already given students at least two extra weeks, until May 15, to commit to attending as they await backlogged financial aid offers. Processing delays in Washington, D.C., have caused colleges to receive students’ financial information later than usual, prompting several other universities across the country to delay decision day to June 1.

The post California delays financial aid deadline over bungled FAFSA rollout appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The MSJC Promise launched in Fall 2019 to make a high-quality education at MSJC financially accessible to more students throughout the region.

Based on feedback the college has received from its educational partners, MSJC has expanded eligibility requirements. This new change allows high school students who earned concurrent, dual-enrollment, and/or articulated units from a college other than MSJC to be eligible for the MSJC Promise Program.

To be eligible for the first year MSJC Promise, students must meet all of the following criteria:

• Apply for admission at MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from “nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com” claiming to be https://msjc.edu/apply

• Be a California resident or exempt group

• Have a high school diploma or GED

• Be a first-time student (students that completed concurrent, dual-enrollment, or articulated coursework/units in high school that were received from a college other than MSJC will be eligible)

• Apply for FAFSA or California Dream Act Application

• Be enrolled in and complete at least 12 units per term in the Fall and Spring semesters

• It is recommended that first-time students take English, Math in the first year

• Maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA while at MSJC

• Students enrolled in the MSJC First Year Experience (FYE) Program will receive priority in the MSJC Promise Program (MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from “nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com” claiming to be https://msjc.edu/fye) To be eligible for the second year of the MSJC Promise Program, students must meet all of the following criteria:

• Be enrolled in and complete at least 12 units per term in the Fall and Spring semesters of the second year

• Apply for FAFSA or California Dream Act Application

• Maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA while at MSJC

For more information, please check the MSJC Promise page on the MSJC website. Anyone with questions about the program can email finaid@msjc.edu or call 951-465-7891.

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Mt. San Jacinto College serves about 27,000 students in a district covering 1,700 square miles from the San Gorgonio Pass to Temecula, with campuses in San Jacinto, Menifee, Banning and Temecula.

The Summer 2021 session begins June 7 and the Fall 2021 semester begins Aug. 16. Enroll today. MSJC awarded a record-breaking 3,848 degrees and certificates to 2,173 graduates on May 27, 2021.

MSJC | Contributed

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