The Indiana Commission for Higher Education has extended the filing deadline for the 2021-2022 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) beyond the state’s original April 15 deadline. Students who did not file the FAFSA before the April 15 deadline should submit the form at FAFSA.gov as soon as possible.
Filing the FAFSA is one of the most important steps in the college-going process and can help students and families better afford college and other higher education opportunities. Students must have a current FAFSA on file to qualify for state and federal financial aid and many merit-based scholarships also require a completed FAFSA.
There is no set date for the deadline extension and limited funding will be released on a first-come, first-served basis. It is critical for students or families who were not able to file by the original deadline to file quickly. The extension applies to Indiana’s financial aid programs, including the 21st Century Scholarship and the Frank O’Bannon Grant. (There is no FAFSA deadline for Hoosiers applying for the Next Level Jobs Workforce Ready Grant.)
The number of Hoosiers filing a FAFSA has decreased this year as in-person learning and filing events to assist students and families have been scaled back due to the pandemic. The overall FAFSA filing rate as of April 12 showed the rate of all FAFSAs down 1.3 percent compared to the same date last year.
For the class of 2021 in Indiana, the number of FAFSA filings were down more than 6 percent. For low-income students who qualify for federal Pell grants in the class of 2021, FAFSA completions were down nearly 14 percent.
For more information about the FAFSA, answers to frequently asked questions and contact information for the Commission’s regional outreach staff, visit www.learnmoreindiana.org.
