TAMPA, Fla. — According to the U.S. Department of Education, only 30% of Florida’s high school seniors submitted their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form for the 2024-2025 school year, which is down nearly 26% from last school year.

Officials at the Financial Aid office at the University of South Florida say it’s likely because of changes to the form made by the Department of Education.

The Department of Education changed the FAFSA form in an effort to streamline it and make it easier for families to complete, but since rolling out the new form, there have been a series of glitches and setbacks that still haven’t been resolved.

The summer semester just started at the University of South Florida, and by now, most students would have their financial aid all set for next school year. But that’s not the case for many because of the changes to the FAFSA. 

“This year has been a little bit difficult to navigate and get paperwork submitted and back and forth," said USF public health major Elizabeth Castillo. "But that’s why I’m here, to verify certain documents and get my money."

Students visit USF's financial aid office to get answers to their questions. (Spectrum Bay News 9/Fallon Silcox)

Castillo only has one year left before graduating with her bachelor’s degree, and for the first time since she started school, her financial aid is still in limbo.

Billie Jo Hamilton, the associate vice president for Enrollment Planning & Management at USF, said Castillo isn’t alone.

“We’re down — for entering freshman class — we’re down about 17% in aid offers that we have out, and some students aren’t even applying,” Hamilton said.

From glitches in the system, to errors made by the Department of Education in the formula used to calculate student aid, Hamilton said it’s been one issue after another since the new FAFSA opened in December. 

She said it’s the worst she’s seen in her 43 years working in financial aid.

“We’ve had challenges along the years, but nothing quite as catastrophic," Hamilton said. "And I would classify this as catastrophic ... and again, it’s still clearly not fixed.”

She said on Friday, the Department of Education notified schools they won’t be able to submit corrections on behalf of students until the end of June.

“The challenge for financial aid offices is we can’t figure out, there’s no transparency about what the problems are for some of these students," she said.

Hamilton said USF will continue trying to help students navigate the FAFSA issues, but for now, all they can do is hope it’s sorted out soon.

“Hopefully, we figure it out and it gets processed so I can start my summer classes and finish them,” said Castillo.

Officials with USF’s financial aid office say they are seeing the most issues with students who are citizens, whose parents are not. They said as of April, about 34% of FAFSA forms were rejected or not accurately processed by the Department of Education.