How a bad year for college financial aid is shaping these students’ futures

Ramon Montiel-García, a newly minted high school graduate from KIPP Northeast Denver Leadership Academy in Colorado, was accepted to his first-choice school, Wheaton College in Massachusetts.

However, with a sticker price of nearly $80,000 per year, including tuition, fees, and room and board, Montiel-García, like many college hopefuls, needed financial aid to bring the cost down.

But also like his peers, Montiel-García struggled with the new federal financial-aid application.

Although his parents have lived in the U.S. since 2001, they are both undocumented and don’t have Social Security numbers, which was one of the many issues that dogged users of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. In the meantime, Montiel-García honed a back-up plan.

His FAFSA application was ultimately accepted in late April — well after the late December launch following another monthslong delay. Still, he said the aid package he received from Wheaton was not enough to make ends meet.

“I would have to have paid $11,000 a semester, which is still a lot of money for me and my family,” he said.

Instead of attending Wheaton, Montiel-García instead enrolled at the nearby University of Colorado in Denver. He plans to live at home to keep costs down.

“I’m kind of disappointed I wasn’t able to go to that school, but maybe it was for the best,” he said.

Even in ordinary years, how students choose a college largely hinges on the amount of financial aid offered and the breakdown among grants, scholarships, work-study opportunities and student loans.

However, in 2024, a botched FAFSA rollout heightened the critical role of aid in college choices. Because of problems with the new form, financial aid award letters were delayed and some high school seniors, like Montiel-García, had trouble applying for any aid at all.

As of June 28, only 46% of new high school graduates have completed the FAFSA, according to the National College Attainment Network, or NCAN. A year ago, that number was 53%.

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