Students who are not in the custody of parents or guardians and lack stable housing have long had to confront barriers and bureaucratic red tape to complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The 2023 overhaul of the FAFSA was meant to simplify the financial aid process for unaccompanied homeless youth, but since its rollout in late December, those students have faced several hurdles due to technical difficulties, delays, and institutional practices, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. As of mid-August, some of those students were still waiting for their financial aid offers.
“It’s been pretty draining,” said Jessica, a sophomore at an East Coast college, regarding her experience filing her FAFSA this year as an unaccompanied homeless student. Jessica’s financial aid offer eventually came through only days before returning to campus, and many other unaccompanied homeless college students told the Chronicle that they had to spend months in fear of not getting the financial aid they need to complete their education.
Related: The students without financial aid offers >
A complicated process for financial aid
The FAFSA considers most undergraduates under age 24 by Dec. 31 of the financial-aid award year to be dependents and requires those students to submit their parents’ financial information. However, students who have been estranged from or abandoned by their parents, have abusive or incarcerated parents, or who have faced other unusual circumstances are exempt from submitting their parents’ financial information.
Before 2009, unaccompanied homeless students had to apply for a dependency override from financial aid officers, which would allow a student to file the FAFSA as independent, providing their own financial information rather than their parents’. Applying for a dependency override has typically been a complicated, invasive, and traumatizing process for students, as it requires them to give a written explanation about their circumstances and why they can’t submit their parents’ financial information. Additional documentation, such as legal filings and law-enforcement records, may also be necessary.
A 2009 update to the Higher Education Act made the process easier by changing the definition of an independent student for the first time to include unaccompanied students who are at-risk of or experiencing homelessness, the Chronicle says. To verify that status, students need to get a document called a “determination” from a college’s homeless liaison or other authorized individuals based on a review of a student’s written statement or documented interview with the student.
Getting a determination is meant to be a shorter process than applying for a dependency override, but students often run into difficulties. Schools tend to undercount the number of students experiencing homelessness, and an unaccompanied homeless student may not know if they fit their institution’s official description or how to get a determination. They may also experience homelessness after they file their FAFSA. Once a student gets a determination, their college is prohibited from requesting more documentation unless it is needed to resolve conflicting information about their status. However, not all schools proceed accordingly.
When the financial aid process falters
The FAFSA overhaul was meant to simplify this process for unaccompanied homeless youth. The form replaces the previous FAFSA’s three complex questions about an applicant’s status, with just one simple two-part question. Starting this application cycle, colleges must assume an unaccompanied homeless student who is determined to be independent will have that status each year they apply for financial aid so they don’t have to reverify their status every year they’re enrolled, as they did previously.
However, unaccompanied homeless students and their advisors told the Chronicle that colleges have continued to ask unaccompanied homeless applicants to go through the dependency override process and to make onerous requests for proof of their status. Experts say this may be due to a lack of training, ignorance of the law, or fear of federal oversight and auditing. These complications, in addition to this year’s chaotic FAFSA rollout, led to delays that put much-needed aid on hold.
“This issue is not new,” says Jordyn Roark, director of youth leadership and scholarship at SchoolHouse Connection, who was previously an unaccompanied homeless youth herself. “[B]ut it has been incredibly harmful, especially this year when students were already dealing with the FAFSA delays, because dependency overrides take longer to process.”