UT and Pellissippi State also affected

KNOXVILLE – As the government shutdown continues, some Tennessee college and university students say they are having to estimate how much federal aid they’ll get — and realizing they may end up receiving less than they thought.

Some students have found that when completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, they need additional verification from the IRS. However, the part of the IRS that allows them to access additional documents has been shut down.

On Wednesday, the Office of Postsecondary Education in the U.S. Department of Education released a statement saying they would provide more flexible guidelines for institutions during the shutdown, allowing them to accept additional documents for verification. Students can now submit a signed copy of income tax returns or W2 forms instead of originals, which may not be available from the IRS at this time.

‘There’s still a lot of risk’

Haley Church, a senior at Johnson University, said her FAFSA has not yet been processed because of the shutdown. Church got married in May, which meant she needed her 2016 tax documents, as well as her husband’s.

“There was a lot of stuff that I had to get that I didn’t previously have to get as an independent student,” Church said.

Church, who is in her last semester at Johnson, tried to get the documents through the IRS website, but the function was shut down. She also went to an IRS office, but “the office was dark and there was no one there,” she said.

“I was told there was no way to access anything until the government reinstates,” Church said.

Church was able to work with the financial aid office at Johnson and worked out an estimate of how much federal aid she will receive once the government reopens. Johnson University had 1,334 undergraduate students enrolled for the fall 2018 semester.

“Not only did they help me with the academic, financial part of it, they encouraged me that we would figure something out,” Church said of the financial aid office.

However, Church said “there’s still a lot of risk,” and she fears that the aid she receives will be less than what was estimated. Church said if that happens, she may have to drop out in her last semester and work full time because she would be responsible for paying the difference.

“There’s the intense fear of working for four years to go into a human services field ... and not knowing if I can even work in my field if I don’t graduate,” Church said.

The University of Tennessee released a statement on Wednesday, saying they were “working with students who are unable to get federal forms related to their financial aid due to the government shutdown.” The UT Knoxville campus had 22,815 undergraduate students enrolled for the fall 2018 semester.

“The university is committed to supporting students who are unable to obtain necessary federal documents to ensure their coursework isn’t disrupted,” the statement said.

Other schools, like Pellissippi State Community College, also said they had students affected by the same issues.

Leigh Anne Touzeau, assistant vice president for enrollment services at the college, said approximately 165 students fell under verification status this year, needing further information from the IRS. PSCC had 10,894 students enrolled for the fall 2018 semester.

Touzeau said under normal circumstances those students would have been dropped from their classes. However, because of the shutdown, their spots were held. Touzeau said with the new guidelines from the Department of Education, she hoped the issues would be resolved soon and the funds would be released.

Rick Locker, director of communications for the Tennessee Board of Regents, which operates the College System of Tennessee, said “some students at some of our colleges have had some financial aid issues,” but “they were resolved on a case by case basis and allowed to attend classes.”

The deadline for Tennessee Promise students to complete FAFSA forms is Feb. 1.

Jessica Powers, communications director for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and Student Assistance Corporation, said THEC has set up a website with information related to the shutdown and FAFSA if students run into issues.

Monica Kast Knoxville News Sentinel USA TODAY NETWORK - TENNESSEE