Brenda H. almost didn’t make it to her first day of college. She tried to apply for financial aid through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) four times, but encountered glitch after glitch—including a widespread bug that impacted students whose parents or spouses don’t have Social Security numbers. Brenda’s parents are both undocumented, which is why Brenda requested we keep their last name out of this story.
It wasn’t until her fifth attempt this spring that Brenda was finally able to submit her FAFSA. The delay meant she committed to a college—California State University, Northridge—without knowing if she could afford it.
When her financial aid package finally came, she says she was speechless. “My mouth dropped to the floor.” There were only a few weeks left before school started, and her award offer was much lower than she had planned for. “I was mad at FAFSA,” she says. “So I went in blind, I went in confused, and I went in angry.”
Read more at NPR.
