Applying to college has never been more confusing.

The new version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which was meant to be less complicated for students, is instead a glitchy mess. The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action has left high schoolers and their counselors unsure of what can and can’t be said in applications. College admissions officers fear lawsuits, and in many cases are struggling to balance their institution’s stated commitments to diversity with the realities of this new legal landscape.

Meanwhile, there’s a push to admit students who’ve overcome adversity and who demonstrate “grit,” or persistence through challenging circumstances. But we lack a shared understanding of what adversity means. At the same time, students feel pressured to open up about a momentous challenge or life obstacle they have had to overcome; essay prompts from the Common App help fuel such narratives and place an unnecessary burden on students.

What’s more, high-quality data on students’ high schools and home environments, which could help admissions officers contextualize students’ applications and better understand what challenges they’ve overcome, remains lacking. And admissions officers risk allowing their own biases to cloud how they evaluate students.

All of this is to say we’ve reached a breaking point. Policymakers and higher ed institutions must try harder. Here are a few starting points: 

More effective communication on the FAFSA. Many families are still unsure of how to navigate the federal aid process. In response, both colleges and the federal government must better explain what changes have been made and offer step-by-step guidance; this can be done through webinars, easy-to-read pamphlets, and other direct and accessible channels.

Increase opportunities for meaningful communication between admissions officers and school counselors. There is too little clarity on what colleges would like to see reflected in non-academic parts of an application – even more so now that a student’s race may not be considered. Before we embark on another admissions cycle, there must be greater dialogue between colleges and high schools on how to best support college-going students. For instance, counselors would benefit from local Q&A forums with admissions officers, providing an overview of what a strong application might look like and where counselors should direct their limited resources.

Standardize the use of recommendation letter templates. Officers must sift through huge numbers of applications while counselors often juggle hundreds of students on their caseload. One way to improve this is by streamlining the process for writing letters of recommendation:  States, for example, could partner with a team of higher ed professionals to build a standardized template. Not only would this save counselors time guessing what sort of content admissions officers will find most relevant, but it would spare college employees from reading letters of varying quality and formats.

Mandate implicit bias training for admissions officers and that they more equitably allocate their resources. While having contextual data about students and their backgrounds is a necessary first step, how that information is used to evaluate students is just as crucial: Officers’ personal views on what a strong student profile looks like could distort the evaluation process and lead to some students being overlooked. Admissions offices also must take a hard look at their current recruiting practices and invest more time and money into recruiting at high-poverty schools.

Ensuring that higher education is open to all students has never been more important. With urgency to innovate and vast tools at our disposal, I believe that we have the potential to open doors for students who might in the past have felt a college degree was unattainable. Rather than succumb to this culture of confusion, we must challenge our colleagues in K-12 and higher education to build a culture of clarity and newfound connection.

Matthew Nicola is a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, completing his Ed.M. in the Education Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship (ELOE) program. The intersection of college admissions, counseling, and equity was the focus of an independent study he conducted through the School Counseling Research Lab.

This op-ed about college admissions was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.

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I participated in an online completion event recently with the aim of supporting students with the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form so I could gain new insights for the counselors I work with at New Visions for Public Schools.

As someone who’s been a college access professional for nearly a quarter century, it was eye-opening.

I was painfully aware that the new, “Better FAFSA” launch has been a nightmare, even though Congress passed the law that created it with the intent of making the process of completing the FAFSA form simpler for students and families and of increasing access to federal aid like the Pell Grant. Instead, the so-called Better FAFSA has been riddled with known issues, including many that have unfairly affected our most vulnerable students — specifically those whose parents do not have a Social Security number (SSN).

Now, parents without SSNs are required to obtain an FSA ID in order to sign into their child’s FAFSA. Then they must provide permission for FAFSA systems to obtain their tax information from the IRS. In short, it hasn’t been working, and many parents have been shut out of completing their part of the FAFSA.

Related: ‘Simpler’ FAFSA complicates college plans for students, families

They’re not the only ones. Many other parents and students have also been struggling to submit their information. Students who are permanent residents, for example, have struggled to enter their information on the form after entering their green card number.

When I agreed to participate in this free online completion event, I expected more success. Although it was 3.5 hours long, I only managed to work with four families. And I was able to complete the FAFSA with only one of them, even with all my years of experience supporting students and guiding counselors through some of the most difficult financial aid scenarios and even though I was familiar with the latest updates and challenges. None of that was enough to enable me to guide more families through to completion within the three-plus hours of the event.

As discouraged as I was, I remembered that counseling, especially around financial aid, is primarily about relationships. I made sure to spend a few minutes chatting with the students and parents to put them at ease.

I affirmed the hard work they had put into the form, especially for those who had been dealing with these complications for over a month.

I even offered a little guidance around finding a good fit for college.

But if I struggled with the new form, with all my advantages, how can we possibly expect families to complete the new FAFSA on their own?

The support that counselors and other college access professionals provide will continue to be essential in keeping students engaged and motivated to pursue their postsecondary goals during this FAFSA upheaval. This work must move forward.

Here’s a bit of advice for anyone trying to help.

Those of us who do this work can learn from one another. For example, a number of my colleagues in New York City have started an email FAFSA support group in which we share updates, screenshots and other information.

In addition, social media is full of groups hashing out FAFSA concerns, while professional organizations like the National College Attainment Network, or NCAN, have been diligently updating their FAFSA tool kits.

We can also remind students — and help them with — other forms that need to be completed, like the CSS Profile and verification forms. In short, we need to make sure that students are doing everything they can to access financial aid.

In the meantime, students who have successfully submitted the FAFSA must know that it will take weeks for their form to be processed. They will have to check their email regularly to keep track of their application and any financial aid-related requests from colleges.

It is likely that financial aid packages will not be available until April or May (schools that require the CSS Profile will be able to provide financial aid packages sooner). This dynamic disproportionately affects our lowest-income students. These students need time to compare several financial aid packages, and they should be reminded of this.

Many colleges haven’t yet extended their enrollment deadlines. That means that advocacy by students and those who work with them will be even more important to ensure they get the time needed to make these important decisions.

Related: OPINION: It’s time to stop using the FAFSA to determine who gets emergency aid

These FAFSA changes are difficult, but they must not defeat students and their families. Together we can help them succeed with the kind of hard work, information-sharing and mutual support I’ve witnessed among the counselors I work with.

I hope we can come out on the other side and be well-prepared to continue the good fight.

 Sandy Jimenez is postsecondary pathways resource manager at New Visions for Public Schools and a co-author of the “Understanding FAFSA Guide.”

This story about the new FAFSA was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.

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The cursing came loud and fast from a nearby room, followed by a slamming sound. This was a few years back, and I immediately suspected the culprit: the dreaded FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, with all its glitches and complexities. 

My husband was losing his cool while attempting to fill it out for the second time in two years. Across America right now, so are millions of parents, students and counselors, frustrated by a failed promise to finally streamline this unwieldy gatekeeper to college dreams.

It’s a terrible time for anyone who counted on that U.S. Department of Education promise, and many are calling for an urgent push for help, including through legislation  and a marshalling of resources from institutions like libraries and groups such as  AmeriCorps.

“I don’t think we’ve seen a full court press about FASFA completion yet,” said Bill DeBaun, a senior director at the National College Attainment Network. “This is an emergency. We need all-hands on deck: governors, state departments, agencies, influencers at the White House. We are kind of at the point where we need to stop nibbling and take a big bite.”

Anyone who has dealt with the FAFSA knows how needlessly complicated and unreliable it can be: In the midst of back-to-back college application season for my two kids, the site kept kicking us out, then losing the previous information we’d painstakingly provided. 

Don’t worry, parents were told over and over, it will get easier, it’s being fixed. A bipartisan law passed in 2020 initiated a complete overhaul of the FAFSA. But after a problematic soft launch on Dec. 30, glitches and delays are inflicting pain on undocumented students, first-generation college goers and others who can’t decide how and if attending college will be possible without offers and aid packages.

The so-called shorter, simpler form so far has been anything but, although DeBaun said many families have submitted it swiftly without problems. Still, as of March 8, there have been roughly 33 percent fewer submissions by high school seniors than last year, NCAN data show.

The finger-pointing and blaming right now is understandable, but not helpful: It threatens years of efforts to get more Americans to and through college at a time when higher education faces both enrollment declines and a crisis of public confidence, in part due to spiraling prices.

Fewer than 1 in 3 adults now say a degree is worth the cost, a survey by the Strada Education Network found, and many fear FASFA snafus could lead to more disillusionment about college.

“FAFSA is such a massive hurdle, and if they [students and parents] can’t get this first step done, they may say it’s too complicated, maybe college isn’t for me,” said Scott Del Rossi, vice president of college and career success at College Possible, which helps low-income students and those from underrepresented backgrounds go to and through college.

Del Rossi wonders why the form wasn’t user-tested before being rolled out, and is among those calling for urgent solutions, beyond band-aid fixes that are literally keeping Department of Education staffers up all night.  

Related: Simpler FAFSA complicates college plans for students and families

“As much staff as government has, it’s not enough for students right now,” said Yolanda Watson Spiva, president of the national advocacy group Complete College America. She wants colleges to do more to directly help applicants still struggling to fill out the forms.

“They should be sharing webinars and workshops and talking about what’s happening and how [students] can begin in spite of the problems,” Watson Spiva said. “If we don’t have those conversations, parents will say this [college] isn’t worth it, and they will look for other opportunities and options.”

Even before the FAFSA fiasco, that’s been happening. In 2021, the proportion of high school graduates going directly to college fell to 62 percent from a high of 70 percent in 2016, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At the same time, costs have more than doubled in the last 40 years, even when adjusted for inflation.

The task ahead is daunting: The Department of Education only started sending batches of student records this week to colleges that will determine aid offers, and about 200 have already extended the traditional May 1st deadline for students to accept offers.

No wonder parents and students are “stressing out and overwhelmed,” said Deborah Yanez, parent programs manager at TeenSHARP, a nonprofit that prepares students from underrepresented backgrounds for higher education.

“This is a special time for them; they have dreamed about sending their kids off to college, but now they are being held in this place of limbo, not knowing what the numbers are,” Yanez told me.

More colleges should extend deadlines for student decisions, Del Rossi said. Counselors that College Possible works with usually say it take at least three interactions, or sessions, with parents to conquer the FAFSA, but many are now reporting the recent form requires more than six – and many are still unsuccessful, Del Rossi said.

“We have to continue to encourage them not to give up and not to lose hope,” Del Rossi said. “We tell them it is not their fault, these are just glitches, but it’s a little heartbreaking.”

But turning to college counselors for help is not always a viable option for public school students, where public school counselors handle an average caseload of 430 students, well above the 1:250 ratio the American School Counselor Association suggests.

And this admissions year has the added complication of being the first since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision barring colleges from considering race as a factor in admissions, along with being a time of rapidly changing rules around whether standardized test scores is required for admission.

Related: Will the Rodriguez family’s college dreams survive the end of affirmative action?

That’s why the message about the importance of a college education must continue, and students must be told not to give up. Still, if they can’t fill out the form and the government can’t turn the forms over to schools in time, it’s game over.

This story about the FASFA was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters.

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Students at Bessemer Elementary School don’t have to go far to see a doctor. If they’re feeling sick, they can walk in to the school’s health clinic, log on to a computer, and connect with a pediatrician or a family medicine provider. After the doctor prescribes treatment, students can in many cases go straight back to class – instead of having to go home.

The telemedicine program was launched in fall 2021 by Guilford County Public Schools, North Carolina’s third largest school district, as a way to combat chronic absenteeism. The number of students missing 10 or more days of school soared in the district – and nationally – during the pandemic, and remains high in many places.

Piloted at Bessemer, the program has gradually expanded to 15 of the district’s Title I schools, high-poverty schools where families may lack access to health care. Along with other efforts aimed at stemming chronic absenteeism, the telemedicine program is helping, said Superintendent Whitney Oakley. The chronic absenteeism rate at Bessemer fell from 49 percent in 2021-2022 to 37 percent last school year, an improvement though still higher than the district would like.   

“It really doesn’t matter how great a teacher is or how strong instruction is, if kids aren’t in school, we can’t do our job,” she said.

Oakley said district administrators focused on health care access because they were seeing parents pull all their children out of school if one was sick and had to visit the doctor. Rates of chronic absenteeism were also higher in areas where families historically lacked access to routine medical care and had to turn to the emergency room for non-emergency health care needs.

The telemedicine clinic is also a way to relieve the burden on working parents, Oakley said: Many parents in the district’s Title I schools work hourly wage jobs and rely on public transportation, making it difficult to pick up a sick child at school quickly.

Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, a nonprofit that combats chronic absenteeism, said that early research indicates that telehealth can improve attendance. According to one study of three rural districts in North Carolina that was released in January, school-based telemedicine clinics reduced the likelihood that a student was absent by 29 percent, and the number of days absent by 10 percent.

Some districts are also turning to virtual teletherapy services to fight chronic absenteeism. Stephanie Taylor, a former school psychologist who is now vice president of clinical innovation at teletherapy provider Presence, says the company’s work has expanded from 1,600 schools to more than 4,000 in recent years as the need for mental health services grows. Therapy can help kids cope with emotional issues that might keep them from attending school, she said, and virtual services give students more choice of counselors and a greater chance of finding someone with whom they mesh.  

At Guilford County Public Schools, the district plans to expand its existing mental health services to eventually include teletherapy, according to Bessemer Elementary Principal Johnathan Brooks. The district is also planning to roll out its telemedicine clinics to all of 50 of its Title I schools, said Oakley.

The clinic is staffed by a school nurse who helps the physician remotely examine the student and ensures that prescriptions are quickly filled. The program is funded through a partnership between the district, local government and healthcare providers and nonprofits, which allows for uninsured families to still access treatment and medicine, Brooks said.

The biggest challenge in launching the clinic was getting parents’ buy-in, he said. The district held meetings with parents, particularly with those who don’t speak English as a first language, to communicate how it would help their kids. To access the program, parents must opt in at the beginning of the school year.

Of the 300 students who received care at Bessemer’s clinic last year, 240 returned to class the same day, said Oakley. Without the program, she said, “all 300 would have just been sent home sick.”

She added: “School is often a trusted place within the community and so it helps to bridge some of those gaps with medical providers. It puts the resources where they already are.”

This story about telemedicine in schools was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.

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