The Indiana Commission for Higher Education is extending the deadline for filing the federal application for student financial aid.
There is no new deadline for students to submit their Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA; instead, the commission said limited award funding will be issued on a first-come-first-serve basis.
The application is used to determine federal financial aid, but the state also uses FAFSA for consideration of several aid programs, including 21st Century Scholarships and the Frank O'Bannon Grant.
In other words: file as soon as possible.
The commission made a similar announcement last year, as the emerging COVID-19 pandemic prompted concerns about students' access to adequate support for filing the application.
According to the commission, FAFSA filing rates are still lagging behind previous years. The agency said the class of 2021's FAFSA filing rate is down by at least 6 percent, and the filing rate among Pell grant-eligible, low-income students is also down by nearly 14 percent.
Families can find help filing the FAFSA on the state's website.
Contact reporter Jeanie at jlindsa@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @jeanjeanielindz.
