The FAFSA Form Error That Would Have Limited Students' Financial Aid Is Getting Fixed
The Education Department estimates the new fix will give students access to an additional $1.8 billion in federal student aid, but there may be delays.
By Rob Wile, NBC News
The U.S. Department of Education plans to fix an error in how financial aid will be calculated for students entering secondary school next year.
However, financial aid experts say implementing the fix to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) now could lead to delays in the students receiving financial aid offers.
The error involved a failure to adjust financial aid tables for inflation. Specifically, the tables show how much of a student’s family’s income should be “protected” from being considered as available to pay for college expenses. Without the inflation adjustment, a family’s spending power would have been considered higher than it actually was.