FAFSA Delays and Deposit Deadline

An email message sent to the campus community on February 2, 2024:

Dear Assumption Community,

As many of you know, the Department of Education has experienced continuing, and still ongoing, delays with the new FAFSA form for federal financial aid. Today, NACAC, the governing board for college admissions counselors, asked institutions to move the traditional May 1 deposit deadline as a result. Many institutions around the country have extended theirs to June 1.

Assumption is doing so as well. We think that’s best for prospective students and families, and we are also confident that the quality of an Assumption education will continue to attract students, as our record-setting application cycle has already shown.

This is frustrating for the many of us who saw May 1 as something of a finish line, even if it was a soft one. But it is the right thing to do for prospective students. 

It is important that we press even harder on the gas pedal in terms of yield. This approach doesn’t give us more time; we need to act with the urgency we already felt and the added urgency of a compressed yield cycle.

Hundreds of families have already taken advantage of our “Fast Track” financial aid form, which allows them to receive financial aid offers without waiting for the FAFSA situation to sort itself out. We were the first institution we know of, and certainly among our competitors, to take this innovative approach. We expect interest in it to grow given the continuing FAFSA delays.

Thanks for all you’ve done, and continue to do, to give as many students as possible the gift of an Assumption education. The opportunity to educate these students is their gift to us too.

Sincerely,

Greg Weiner, Ph.D.
President