FAFSA Fiasco Could Keep Black Kids Out of College This Fall

By Joseph Williams Originally appeared in Word in Black It’s been one thing after another with the new-but-not-necessarily-improved Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a form that helps students pay for college.  First, the long-anticipated rollout of the redesigned online application was delayed for three months because it just wasn’t ready. Then, when it finally did appear, a variety of bugs and glitches, including some that could reduce the amount of federal tuition aid, kept students and their families from completing it. Now, Chronicle of Higher Education reports that schools are receiving FAFSA applications with& incorrect tax information from families.& & None of this is good news for Black students, some 80% of whom depend on FAFSA to help pay for ballooning college costs.  According to the nonprofit National College Attainment Network, roughly 34% of all eligible high school seniors have submitted FAFSA applications through March 22, an overall decline of nearly 29% since last year. But the problem is most acute, according to NCAN data, among low-income schools and schools with high concentrations of minority students. There, the percentage decline in 2024 FAFSA applications is slightly more than 35%. Besides worsening an already-bad time crunch for colleges and students...