CUNY pushing back deadlines amid FAFSA woe

The City University of New York is extending its deadline to commit to college until June, giving families more time to weigh financial aid packages amid a turbulent rollout of the updated FAFSA.

Students typically have until May 1 to make college decisions. But as problems with the new form delay financial aid information for millions of students, CUNY said all applicants will have until at least June 1 to accept admission offers for the fall semester. Students admitted following that date can still enroll after the deadline.

“For millions of young adults wrestling over where to attend college, access to financial aid is often the deciding factor,” said CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodríguez in a statement. “This is particularly true for CUNY, an institution founded on the promise of providing a public first-rate education to all students, regardless of means.”

“By pushing back commitment day we’re able to provide students and families the flexibility to make an informed decision and enable more New Yorkers to seize the benefits of public higher education,” he said.

The announcement followed a similar call by the State University of New York last week to push back its deadline until at least May 15, with some local campuses delaying decisions even further.

The U.S. Department of Education this application cycle embarked on a laudable attempt to streamline the FAFSA, which is notoriously difficult to fill out.

But its soft launch in December, months later than in previous years, was riddled with technological glitches, and kinks that are still being worked out today. As a result, most financial aid offers are not expected to go out to families until April, leaving less than a month until the typical college decision date.

As of mid-February, just over 22% of high school seniors had completed the FAFSA, according to an analysis by the National College Attainment Network, compared with 41% of last year’s graduates by this point in the school year.

At CUNY, many students rely on financial aid to get a college diploma. More than three-quarters of undergraduate students last year received $780 million in needbased federal Pell Grants and state tuition assistance, according to university data.

CUNY offers its own online FAFSA guide and, through a partnership with the city’s public schools, estimated it’s helped more than 4,000 high school seniors complete FAFSA forms.