Impact of FAFSA delays on financial aid notification process

To UIC students, faculty and staff:

With the current delays related to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) announced by the U.S. Department of Education, UIC enrollment management would like to provide updates about financial aid notifications and Intent to Enroll deadlines for the 2024/2025 academic year. These changes will impact decision and aid timelines for both incoming and current students. Here’s the latest:

• The U.S. Department of Education expects the transmission of FAFSA data to schools will be delayed to mid-March 2024. The data will be sent to schools in batches and not all at once. That means we may receive some student data after mid-March.
• Assuming we receive data in mid-March, we anticipate that our financial aid notifications to incoming undergraduate students will be ready in early May. We will shut down public-facing services in the financial aid office for one week, from Monday, March 18, to Friday, March 22, 2024, to accelerate the necessary testing and update to our system, in order to accommodate the FAFSA delays. (Please note: Financial Aid staff will be available for email and remote student appointments during this time.)
• We recognize the difficulty students and their families are facing to make financial decisions about their college choice without a full and accurate picture of their aid. Because a significant portion of UIC’s student body is comprised of first-generation students and those with high financial needs, this disproportionately affects our student population.

Impact and response for incoming UIC students
In light of these considerations, we have extended the deadline to June 1, 2024, for admitted first-year students to accept their offer of admission. This will give students and their families time to review their aid notifications before committing to UIC.

While we hope other institutions adopt similar measures, our priority remains clear: to allow students and their families time to make well-informed decisions about their college choice.

Impact and response for continuing UIC students
Continuing students have always received their aid notifications after fall registration opens, typically in late May to early June. We are hopeful we will have our FAFSA data by the time we run continuing student aid packaging. If we do, the effects may be minimal for continuing students who file FAFSAs.

For the most current updates, please visit our updates page on our financial aid and admission websites.

Sincerely,

Kiely Fletcher

Vice Provost for Enrollment Management

For more information, please contact:
Maureen Woods
magarvey@uic.edu
rmoran1@uic.edu