<p>I am posting this article as a heads up and to make students and their families aware of the possibility of Financial Aid award letter delays in some cases as a result of IRS delays and processing problems that have been reported in the media in recent days. How it will affect individual Chapman U students as well as all college students in the USA in the next two months is yet to be seen:</p>
<p>From the article:</p>
<p>“While loan, grant and scholarship funds should be disbursed on time for the 2013-2014 year, the Department of Education has acknowledged that “some families and their schools are concerned that important financial aid award information may not be available in time for families to make college-going decisions.”
“With the high cost of college education – and the associated debt – a concern, many families carefully consider financial award packages as part of the final college decision process. Without the FAFSA, there may be no award letter in spring. Without the award letter, families may not be able to make a real cost comparison between similarly situated schools. And without that information, enrollment decisions could be difficult.”</p>
<p>Complete article:
FAFSA</a>, Tax Return Delays Could Slow College Enrollment Decisions - Forbes</p>
<p>As this issue plays out please let us know any help or suggestions you can give to others based upon your experiences regarding Chapman U. Thank you</p>
<p>In our experience, we initially filed the FAFSA in early January and used the IRS retrieval tool in early February. Since Dodge is EA, D received her admission letter at the end of February and her financial aid award in early March. (Dates were when we received them in the mail, not Web Advisor.)</p>
<p>Ditto. We completed FAFSA in late January even though the IRS was not ready to process our return because of the college form glitch (we have one already in college). Tax return was processed in early March. FA letter with the offer of admissions was dated as of last week.</p>
<p>That is great that with the FAFSA filed in January and the taxes filed in early February there is no problem.</p>
<p>It looks like the delay problem could arise with FAFSA and IRS filings if they were filed from the middle to end of February:</p>
<p>[Hundreds</a> Of Thousands Of Taxpayers Thought To Be Impacted By Education Credit Snafu - Forbes](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2013/03/12/hundreds-of-thousands-of-taxpayers-thought-to-be-impacted-by-education-credit-snafu/]Hundreds”>Hundreds Of Thousands Of Taxpayers Thought To Be Impacted By Education Credit Snafu)</p>
<p>[IRS:</a> Tax-preparation glitch affects about 660K returns, delaying refunds by several weeks - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/irs-tax-preparation-glitch-affects-about-660k-returns-delaying-refunds-by-several-weeks/2013/03/13/8bfec874-8c22-11e2-af15-99809eaba6cb_story.html]IRS:”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/irs-tax-preparation-glitch-affects-about-660k-returns-delaying-refunds-by-several-weeks/2013/03/13/8bfec874-8c22-11e2-af15-99809eaba6cb_story.html)</p>
<p>Let’s hope that all students whom will need to make financial decisions on which college to attend can get their financial aid packages before the end of April.</p>