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St. Cloud State University
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Deadline for FAFSA changes
By Cory Fechtelkotter
Published:
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Students applying for a state grant for post-secondary education will have a lot less time to do so.
As of July 1, students became required to submit their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to the Federal Application Processing Center within the first 14 days of the school term for which they need financial aid. A statewide budget deficit and a floundering economy have forced many areas of the state government to make tough decisions, especially in higher education. In an attempt to balance the budget, the deadline policy and many other facets of post-secondary financing have been slightly changed.
Philip Lewenstein of the Minnesota Higher Education Services Office (MHESO) explained the changes.
"We've preserved the core program for state grants but they kind of had to scale back some initiatives that we had," Lewenstein said. "We're still going to be doing a fairly good job keeping with the growing demand for state. With the higher prices it will be a challenge for students, but there is some help.
"There are a number of changes the legislature made in order to try to fund the state grant program," Lewenstein said. "In order to do that we tried to provide adequate funding,and grants to all the applicants we have, as well as help students offset as much tuition as possible.
"Another change dealt with the period of enrollment," Lewenstein said. "It used to be you could have the grant for five years enrollment, and they scaled that back to four years."
To offset the increasing tuition, the 2003 Minnesota Legislature approved a $40 million biennial increase in funding for state grants. "All these changes (will) presumably save money," Lewenstein said.
Despite all the other changes, MHESO is placing heavy emphasis on turning the applications in on time.
"We really want them to be aware of the deadline," Lewenstein said. "We don't want them to not get a grant because they don't get their FAFSAs in on time."
Lewenstein suggested that students consult the financial aid department of their school if they need help.
"They will try to help you fill in your financial aid package, what you need beyond the grant," Lewenstein said. "They will try to find other sources, it might be work study, it might be guiding you to loans."
The change in deadline policy is particularly important to incoming students at post-secondary institutions.
Mike Scott, a senior from Maple Grove Senior High School plans to attend SCSU and apply for grants. Although Scott wasn't happy about the deadline change, he didn't view it as too much of a hassle.
"For procrastinators like me it isn't so great," Scott said. "But I guess it will just give me a reason to get my stuff done sooner."
