Despite setbacks from a chaotic rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, applications in Indiana increased.
Indiana high school and college students submitted 247,487 applications as of July 5, Commission for Higher Education Senior Associate Commissioner and Chief Program Officer Michelle Ashcraft said. She said the commission is still processing corrected FAFSA applications, so that number could change.
Compared to that time last year, Ashcraft said students submitted about 1,200 more FAFSA applications. The commission will report final numbers by Sept. 30.
Ashcraft said according to data provided by the federal government, applications from low-income and high-minority high schools rose.
“We are one of the few if not maybe the only state that is up in overall applications,” Ashcraft said. “While the national media share If there has been a significant impact for low-income students and other populations, we're not seeing that same effect in Indiana.”
In 2023, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a FAFSA requirement into law. High school seniors, except those in some nonpublic schools, will be required to complete the form by April 15 each year. There were no consequences for missing the deadline or not completing the form.
The U.S. Department of Education released a revamped FAFSA form Dec. 31 — much later than the typical Oct. 1 start. The form was soft launched, only open for brief windows at the beginning of the year. Students whose parents have no Social Security number weren’t able to complete the application until the form was corrected.
“It is truly a priority deadline, which means if you file by April 15 and you qualify, you are guaranteed to receive funding,” Ashcraft said. “And then we award students first-come-first-serve after that as long as funding is still available.”
Ashcraft said the Commission for Higher Education has not decided if that deadline will be extended. If it is extended, the commission will announce the new date and students will be notified.
“Last year, it went through the end of June,” Ashcraft said. “The year before that, it went all the way through the end of August. And the year before that it went through the end of May. So we've had quite a bit of flexibility there in recent years.”
Ashcraft said the commission advises students and families to call the financial aid support center at 1-888-528-4719.
“Because there are some known issues that we can just easily correct and not have them go through the full appeals process,” Ashcraft said. “If they do need to go through the appeals process, we can advise them on the minimal information we need to be able to process that.”
Ivy Tech Community College also hosts FAFSA assistance events, Ashcraft said. The commission will continue to contact students who haven’t completed or corrected their applications. The federal government will also contact those students, she said.
The Commission for Higher Education’s outreach teams partnered with INvestEd to help with the application. INvestEd, an Indiana loan and financial aid assistance group, also earned federal funding to support FAFSA outreach.
“They will also be doing some targeted communications to counties that have low FAFSA filing rates and low college going rates, as well to try to boost that in addition to the events that they are doing,” Ashcraft said.
If students haven’t submitted their FAFSA for the upcoming academic year, Ashcraft said there’s still time.
“The 24-25 FAFSA application deadline goes all the way through June 30 of 2025,” Ashcraft said. “At this point, students or their family members could still file and receive federal aid. And then depending on when we extend the deadline or accept their appeal, they could potentially qualify for state aid.”
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on X @aubreymwright.
