The University System of Maryland announced Thursday that it is pushing the deadline for students to accept admission offers to May 15 due to delays in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid this year.
Usually, the FAFSA application is released to students and families in October. For the 2024-25 school year, the application did not open until December 2023. Due to the shifted timeline, USM is moving the deadline, which was previously May 1.
The change comes after the U.S. Department of Education recently revamped FAFSA to simplify the application process for federal grants and loans, according to a university system press release.
“We’re grateful that U.S. officials are prioritizing college access and affordability,” the release said. “However, the implementation of these changes has been problematic, causing significant challenges for colleges and universities across the nation.”
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The application had several technical issues. The education department announced last month that colleges will not receive federal student aid data until mid-March.
University system institutions traditionally start offering financial aid packages to students in January based on details from the FAFSA application, the release said.
Because the delays condense the timeline for universities in the system to assess financial information and offer aid packages and the time students have to review those packages and make a decision, the system is extending the decision deadline by about two weeks, the release said.
According to the release, some institutions may push the deadline further if there are more FAFSA delays.
This change may lead to universities moving other dates, including housing deposit deadlines, the release said.
