(Radio Iowa) – The leaders of the financial aid departments at the three state universities say the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA has gotten much easier to use. Tim Bakula is the Financial Aid director at the University of Northern Iowa. “While we’re still being called upon to assist with FAFSA questions, our offices are no longer working through processing glitches created by federal systems and implementation,” he says. “This can allow our offices to provide effective support for questions related directly to FAFSA itself.”
Bakula says that’s show up in the number of potential and current Iowa students using the system. “FAFSA filing rates for the state of Iowa this year are up 13-point-five (13.5) percent for the 26-27 FAFSA cycle, with each Regent institution seeing an increase in their filing rates,” he says. He says it now takes an average of just more than half an hour for a family to complete the FAFSA process.
“Federal student aid also continues to make improvements to the FAFSA user experience in terms of identity protection. Helping students and universities alike ensure that data is for the person submitting the form,” he says. Small business owners and family farm owners have previously had to include those assets in determining if their child was eligible to receive federal aid. Bakula says President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill has changed that.
“That is changing for the 26-27 cycle. So that’s been repealed and is now allowing those individuals to not have to report on those aspects of their assets,” he says. Bakula says that was a very welcome change by all three Regent universities in Iowa as well as many schools in the Midwest where agriculture is important.
