WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1896 April 4, 2024
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Volume 128 Issue 26
STUCK IN LIMBO
FAFSA submissions have decreased across USD 259 amid a new online interface and deadline for the college financial aid program.
Infographic by Thy Vo / The Sunflower
FAFSA delays, glitches cause frustration for Wichita State students and financial aid staff BY JACOB UNRUH
C
assistantsports@thesunflower.com
ollege and high school students across the country are playing a waiting game as an update to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid has been plagued by delays and glitches. This year, the new system has stalled award offers and left applicants and administrators confused and anxious. “Every month, there’s been news of an additional delay,” Sheelu Surender, the executive director of financial aid and scholarships at Wichita State, said. “Then we also consistently are getting information with errors … that are preventing us from moving forward.” The FAFSA Simplification Act, passed in 2020, attempted to expedite the FAFSA completion process by cutting its more than 100 questions to 30, expanding the number of students eligible for Pell Grants and introducing a new formula for calculating aid, the Student Aid Index (SAI). However, the rollout of the new system this year has been delayed by a wide variety of errors. In previous years, applications opened in October, while this year, they began in January. Miscalculations from the United States Department of Education, including a failure to incorporate inflation into SAI estimates, have further stalled applications from reaching financial aid administrators. Surender said that after a FAFSA application is completed and processed by the Department of Education, it is sent to Wichita State, where the financial aid office sends corrections back to students and determines the award offer. In the past, the office would receive the first FAFSA applications in November and send out award letters the next month, but this year, they have just started to receive applications, according to Surender. “The issue is that they had to completely overhaul the system,” Surender said. “And that’s where the delays were caused because they were not ready … So it’s like you’re building the ship as you’re trying to run it.“
‘THE MOST FRUSTRATING THING IN THE WORLD’ Wichita State student Allison Waldt received a full-ride scholarship during her freshman year of high school through the Give Back program, which
gives aid to students who have had “adverse childhood experiences.” The scholarship requires a full Pell Grant and FAFSA completion by April 1. Now a junior at Wichita State, Waldt attempted to apply for the FAFSA the first week it opened in January; however, she said the documentation that proves she is a provisionally independent student was erased from the FAFSA file. The online financial aid website said additional documentation was required to prove her status. Waldt said when she called the financial aid office asking what information she needed to provide, they told her to wait until mid-March, when they would contact her with more information. That information still hasn’t arrived. “I’m in this weird limbo of the financial aid department at WSU emailing me, telling me that I’m going to lose my scholarship if I don’t fill out my FAFSA, but I did fill out my FAFSA,” Waldt said. “I’m waiting for the university to contact me with the kinds of documentation that they need for me to file the FAFSA.” Waldt’s mother is under conservatorship, and her father is homeless. She said she has affidavits and court documents explaining why she is unable to procure their tax information for the application, but the website has prevented her from uploading those documents. “I asked (WSU financial aid), I was like, ‘Hey, what happens if they don’t get back with me,’ and the only thing that people have been telling me is to wait, which is the most frustrating thing in the world when I’m being faced with my ability to go to college being taken away,” Waldt said. Waldt said without a scholarship for her senior year, she would be forced to drop out of college. “I’m working currently part-time,” Waldt said. “I’m not going to be able to afford my tuition and my books and everything else that I’d need, which would be really disappointing because I’m, like, 80% done.”
HIGH SCHOOL UNCERTAINTY The process has been just as frustrating for high school students attempting to apply for first-year financial aid at Wichita State. Kayla Russell, a Wichita North High School senior, has been waiting three months to complete her FAFSA application because a glitch on the signature page has locked her out from finishing
RESOURCES FOR COMPLETING THE FAFSA • Complete the FAFSA as soon as possible. The priority date was extended to May 1, but students can also receive aid until the end of the academic year on June 30. Pell Grants are first come, first serve. • Schedule an appointment with the financial aid office. • Visit the frequently asked questions page on the wichita.edu/fafsa website. • Watch out for Wichita State’s financial aid events. • If there are errors or delays, don’t fill out a paper application. Wait for corrections to your FAFSA from the Department of Education and Financial Aid office so you don’t have conflicting information. the process. “I have absolutely no idea how much financial aid I’m going to get to go to college,” Russell said. “So I can’t really decide where I’m going yet … It’s been like this since January.” Kayla’s mother, Sara Russell, said her daughter has been in tears over the uncertainty of her future college decisions. “I would be pretty scared, not knowing what you’re jumping into, how much in debt you’re going to be,” Sara Russell said. “Because here she’s sitting at almost a 4.0 (grade point average) … I never thought that we would be here where she wouldn’t know by now, the end of March, what offers or where she could go.” Across Unified School District 259, FAFSA completion rates are just over half of what they were at this time last year, with 651 completed compared to 1,252. Rachel Schmeidler, the college and career coordinator at Wichita North, said many students who cannot afford college, especially first-generation students, are currently “uncomfortable with enrolling” in higher education. “This is probably going to be the first year since the FAFSA has been digitized that seniors are not going to have an idea of what they can afford by the time they graduate high school, which, in the broad picture, is going to affect enrollment,” Schmeidler said. SEE FAFSA, PAGE 2
Wichita State provost and vice president of finance and administration set to retire BY MIA HENNEN news@thesunflower.com
Wichita State’s Shirley Lefever and Werner Golling will both retire this year. Lefever, who serves as provost and executive vice president, will retire at the end of the calendar year, while Golling, vice president of finance and administration, will retire in July. Both retirements were announced in a Strategic Communications press release on Wednesday morning. In the release, President Richard Muma made it clear that while both administrators plan to leave at the same time, “the timing is coincidental.” Search committees are currently being formed to conduct a national search for replacements. Lainie Mazzullo-Hart, the director of communication for Strategic Communications, said that Shelly Coleman-Martins will chair the search for a new provost, while Zach Gearhart will chair the finance and administration search committee. “The search chairs are currently reaching out to individuals and asking for their voluntary participation,” Mazzullo-Hart wrote in an email. “Those names are not public yet because that process just started today following the announcement. They will include a variety of stakeholders.” Public forums will be held after finalists are selected for each position. The new provost is expected to start immediately after the 2024-2025 winter break; the vice president of finance and administration will start immediately after Golling retires in July. Mazzullo-Hart said Lefever and Golling “have indicated that they are willing to extend their time in their respective roles if necessary to ensure a complete and smooth transfer.” Lefever has been at the university since 2005 when she began as a department chair in the College of Applied Studies. She eventually became associate dean in 2008 and then dean of the college in 2014. After Lefever became interim executive vice president and provost of the university in 2020, the role became permanent in 2022. Golling’s time at the university is significantly shorter than Lefever’s; he entered his role in 2017 and has remained in it since. Golling oversees various financial and administrative operations at the university, such as public safety, human resources, information technology, and university facilities.
Hower, Phan elected student body president, VP for 67th session BY COURTNEY BROWN newsprojects@thesunflower.com
Kylee Hower and Matthew Phan will be the next student body president and vice president, according to the uncertified election results that were announced on Wednesday evening. Hower, the Student Government Association’s current speaker of the Student Senate, and Phan, an engineering senator, won over half of the student vote, with 59.95% of the votes, or 482 student votes. Aiden Powell and Diana Grajeda, the opposing candidates, secured 35.19% of the votes, or 283 student votes. SEE HOWER,PHAN, PAGE 2