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In the 1970s, Congress committed to funding a higher education system controlled by Indigenous communities. These tribal colleges and universities were intended to serve students who’d been disadvantaged by the nation’s history of violence and racism toward Native Americans, including efforts to eradicate their languages and cultures.

But walking through Little Big Horn College in Montana with Emerson Bull Chief, its dean of academics, showed just how far that idea has to go before becoming a reality. Bull Chief dodged signs warning “Keep out!” as he approached sheets of plastic sealing off the campus day care center. It was late April and the center and nearby cafeteria have been closed since January, when a pipe burst, flooding the building, the oldest at the 44-year-old college. The facilities remained closed into late September.

“Sometimes plants grow along here,” Bull Chief said nonchalantly as he turned down a hallway in the student union building.

While the school appears to be in better condition than most tribal colleges, its roofs leak, sending rain through skylights in the gym and wellness center, which needs $1 million in repairs. An electronic sign marking the entrance has been sitting dark since a vehicle hit it months ago. College leaders said they have no idea when they will be able to afford repairs.

It’s a reality faced by many of the 37 schools in the system, which spans 14 states. Congress today grants the colleges a quarter-billion dollars per year less than the inflation-adjusted amount they should receive, ProPublica found.

President Joe Biden declared early in his term that tribal schools were a priority. Yet the meager funding increases he signed into law have done little to address decades of financial neglect. Further, the federal Bureau of Indian Education, tasked with requesting funding for the institutions, has never asked lawmakers to fully fund the colleges at levels called for in the law.

The outcome is crimped budgets and crumbling buildings in what the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights once called the “most poorly funded institutions of higher education in the country.” At a time when their enrollment is rising, the schools lack money to update academic programs and hire enough qualified instructors to train nurses, teachers and truck drivers and to prepare students to transfer to other universities. As they expand degree programs, their researchers are trying to conduct high-level work in old forts, warehouses and garages.

The laws that authorized the creation of the tribal colleges also guaranteed funding, which was set at $8,000 annually per student affiliated with a tribe, with adjustments for inflation. But the federal government has never funded schools at the level called for in the statute, and even experts struggle to explain the basis for current funding levels.

Since 2010, per-student funding has been as low as $5,235 and sits at just under $8,700 today, according to the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, which lobbies on behalf of the colleges in Washington. Had Congress delivered what’s required by statute, tribal colleges and universities would receive about $40,000 per student today.

The Bureau of Indian Education has not asked Congress for major funding increases for the bulk of the tribal colleges in the past three years, according to the agency’s budget documents, and congressional negotiations have done little to increase what they get.

The Bureau of Indian Education said in a written statement that when requesting funding, it follows guidelines set by the Department of the Interior and the White House. A department spokesperson directed ProPublica to the White House budget office for an explanation of the colleges’ funding; a spokesperson for the budget office declined an interview request and directed ProPublica back to the Interior Department.

Biden called the colleges “integral and essential” to their communities in a 2021 executive order that, among other things, established a tribal college initiative to determine systemic causes of education shortcomings and improve tribal schools and colleges. But while it has led to some forums and largely ceremonial events, that initiative has done next to nothing substantive, advocates say.

As funding has fallen behind the need, even the American Indian Higher Education Consortium — the schools’ primary pipeline to Congress and the Bureau of Indian Education — has asked for far less than the law says the colleges are entitled to. Its recent requests have been for around $11,000 per student.

Some people advocating for the tribal colleges have noted a frequent topic of debate: Should the schools ask for what they’re owed and risk angering lawmakers or just accept the meager amount they receive?

Separately, the colleges get very little for maintenance and capital improvements, money that isn’t part of the per-student funding.

Asked why the Bureau of Indian Education doesn’t better understand the facilities needs at tribal colleges, Sharon Pinto, the agency’s deputy director for school operations, said, “We really wouldn’t know that because the buildings located at these tribal colleges are not necessarily federal assets and they’re not in an inventory system.” In a follow-up email, the bureau said it was waiting for the colleges to let it know what their facility needs are.

Several college leaders and researchers said such responses are typical of a federal government that has routinely ignored its promises to Indigenous communities over the past two centuries.

Meredith McCoy, who is of Turtle Mountain Ojibwe descent and taught at the tribe’s college in North Dakota, noted that Native education is guaranteed by federal law and at least 150 treaties. Neglect of tribal colleges reflects a conscious decision by Congress and the federal government to dodge accountability, said McCoy, now an assistant professor at Carleton College who studies federal funding of tribal schools and colleges.

“The patterns of underfunding are so extreme that it’s hard not to see it as a systematic approach to underfunding Native people,” she said. “We’re teaching our children that it’s OK to make a promise and break it.”

An Outdated System

To evaluate the impact of the federal government’s underfunding of tribal colleges’ and universities’ academic mission, ProPublica sent a survey to the 34 fully accredited schools, of which 13 responded, and visited five campuses. Our reporting found classes being held in a former fort constructed more than a century ago; campuses forced to temporarily close because of electrical, structural and plumbing problems; broken pipes that destroyed equipment and disrupted campus life; and academic leaders who lack the resources to adequately address the issues, build new facilities and keep pace with growing enrollment.

The colleges that responded to the survey reported that they commonly have problems with foundations, roofs, electrical systems and water pipes because they couldn’t afford maintenance. One campus put the price tag for repairs at $100 million. Several noted they don’t have money to upgrade technology so students can keep pace with skills required by the job market.

The Bureau of Indian Education stated in its 2024 budget request that delays in addressing the problems only makes them more costly to fix. Continuing to ignore them could in some cases create “life-threatening situations for school students, staff, and visitors” and “interrupt educational programs for students, or force closure of the school,” the bureau told Congress.

But that same document did not request enough funding to fix the issues, college leaders say.

In 2021, Congress began providing $15 million per year for maintenance, to be shared by all tribal colleges. That has since increased to $16 million — less than $500,000 per college. The same year, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium estimated it would cost nearly half a billion dollars to catch up on deferred maintenance. Construction of new buildings would cost nearly twice that amount. The organization acknowledged the actual price tag could be far higher.

Tribal colleges are not allowed to raise taxes or use bond measures for basic academic or building costs.

The schools receive no federal funding for any non-Native students who attend. Their budgets were stretched even tighter by the COVID-19 pandemic, when non-Native enrollment rose sharply as classes moved online. It has remained above pre-pandemic levels.

The Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act of 1978, which funded the schools, contributes to confusion over what they should be paid. While it specifies base funding of $8,000 per student, it also notes that colleges will only be given what they need, without explaining how that should be calculated, and only when the government can afford it.

“When we think about the funding, it was set up for something that was needed 40 years ago,” said Ahniwake Rose, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium’s president. “What a school looked like and needed 40 years ago is absolutely not what it looks like and needs now.”

Few Alternatives for Funding

Though colleges and their representatives fault the Bureau of Indian Education, they say primary accountability falls on Congress.

ProPublica contacted 21 members of the U.S. House and Senate who either sit on an appropriations or Indian Affairs committee, or who represent a district or state with a tribal college to ask if they were aware of the condition of the campuses. Only Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, a New Mexico Democrat, spoke to ProPublica. The others either didn’t respond or declined to be interviewed.

Leger Fernández, a member of the Indian and Insular Affairs subcommittee of the House Committee on Natural Resources, said she has pushed for the colleges to receive more funding but has been shut down by members of both parties, partly because of a lack of understanding about how they are funded.

“Our tribal colleges are part of our federal trust responsibility,” said Leger Fernández, whose district in northern and eastern New Mexico is home to three tribal colleges. “We made a commitment. This is an obligation the federal government has.”

Former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who chaired the Senate Indian Affairs Committee before retiring in 2005, said the colleges lose out to louder voices in Washington, D.C. “Federal money is always caught in a tug-of-war between needs,” Campbell said. “The needs are always higher than the amount available.”

Yet tribal colleges have fewer alternatives for bolstering their budgets.

Many of the colleges are far from industrial centers and have few wealthy alumni, college leaders say, so private donations are rare and usually small.

“We don’t have the alumni who can afford to donate,” said Marilyn Pourier, the development director at South Dakota’s Oglala Lakota College, which is perched on a hill on the Pine Ridge reservation. “We get a pretty good response, but it’s not enough.”

The schools’ tuition is among the lowest in the nation, but college leaders are hesitant to raise it because most reservation residents already can’t afford it.

Naomi Miguel, the executive director of the White House tribal college initiative, said she plans to press states to contribute more to tribal colleges and universities. At the moment, most provide little or nothing.

“If the states would support the TCUs, they’d be supporting jobs in their communities,” said Miguel. “It benefits them overall to create this sustainable workforce.”

“A Saving Grace”

Proof of the value of tribal colleges and universities, advocates say, can be found in what they accomplish despite their meager funding.

Many are the only places teaching their tribes’ languages at a time when nearly all of the 197 Indigenous languages in the United States are endangered.

They are often among the few places in their communities with access to high-speed internet. Nearly 28% of residents of tribal lands lack high-speed internet access, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And some Native students find that the schools are a more welcoming place to pursue a degree and prepare for a career.

Shyler Martin, who grew up on the Navajo Nation near Navajo Technical University, enrolled there after leaving New Mexico State University during her second year there. Now entering her senior year, Martin said it’s been a relief to learn from instructors who understand the pressures she faces as the oldest child of a Navajo family, with whom she shares responsibility for raising her younger sister.

“They’re culturally sensitive and understanding,” Martin said of Navajo Tech’s staff. “I’m a parent, and they do what they can to help you continue school.”

Yet her time at the college has included winter days when classrooms were so cold that students had to bring blankets and classes that were canceled at the last minute because of a shortage of qualified instructors.

Tribes would be in dire straits without the colleges, said Carmelita Lamb, a professor at the University of Mary in North Dakota who has taught at and studied tribal colleges.

“The tribal college has been a saving grace,” said Lamb, a member of the Lipan Band of Apache. “Had we never had the tribal colleges, I really shudder to think where we’d be now.”

The colleges keep doing the best they can, but some are finding it increasingly difficult.

At Chief Dull Knife, college leaders planned three years ago to build a modern structure with classrooms and a ceremonial arbor, but the estimated price — $14 million at the time — was already out of reach even before it ballooned to more than $20 million because of inflation. The plans haven’t been scrapped, but Bill Briggs, the dean of academic affairs, talks about them in the past tense.

“If we’re going to change the course of this country, everyone needs to have an opportunity,” Briggs said. “All we’re asking for is an opportunity to educate our students.”

This story was produced with support from the Education Writers Association Reporting Fellowship program.

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Too many of our public schools are missing teachers, especially in hard-to-staff subject areas. We have a teacher shortage, and it could get worse.

According to a recent report, last school year, 45 percent of public schools said they were understaffed, and nearly 9 in 10 school districts reported struggling to hire teachers heading into the 2023-24 school year. They are still struggling. In addition to the current shortage, our teacher-preparation programs report decreased enrollment.

Shortages are most common in the traditionally tricky subject areas of special education, math, science and foreign languages. School districts in high-poverty areas or those that predominantly serve students of color have been especially hard hit.

There is an emerging solution: Partnerships at the local level between minority-serving institutions and local districts can help more children learn from highly effective, well-qualified teachers.

These partnerships can be far more effective than many current efforts to fill vacancies that resort to rushing adults who are not fully certified into the classrooms.

As you’d expect, those newly minted teachers need additional training in order to provide their students with the high-quality education they deserve. As a former college of education dean, I’m confident we can increase the number of high-quality teachers in the classrooms while closing the teacher diversity gap.

We can do this by investing in, supporting and leveraging the unique role of educator preparation programs at minority-serving institutions, which have a long and successful track record of preparing diverse educators to persist and thrive in teaching.

Related: Widen your perspective. Our free biweekly newsletter consults critical voices on innovation in education.

Minority-serving institutions include our nation’s historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities and institutions serving 25 percent or more of Asian Americans, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Many of these schools prepare their graduates to be effective teachers from day one, emphasizing subject and content knowledge along with teaching techniques. They train new teachers to recognize and value diversity as an asset and encourage engagement with families and local communities. They create lesson plans and curriculums that are both rigorous and accessible and foster environments in which all students can thrive.

In the 2020-21 academic year, minority-serving institutions enrolled 28 percent of all education prep candidates nationwide and 51 percent of all candidates of color, according to federal Title II data. Many of these schools actively engage in robust partnerships with their local education systems to strengthen teaching and learning.

One example: A partnership between Laredo Independent School District and Texas A&M International University’s Educator Preparation, which relies on high expectations and data-informed recruitment to develop terrific local teachers.

The partnership features initiatives like expanded dual credit programs to improve access to higher education and an effort to promote career mobility for students in Laredo ISD. It also fosters trust-based relationships and a collective vision, so that the entire local education ecosystem is deeply committed to the preparation and success of teacher candidates.

Another example comes from the organization I lead, the Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity, or BranchED, and our National Teacher Preparation Transformation Center. In North Carolina, we helped get faculty and teaching candidates from North Carolina A&T working alongside teachers in Guilford County Schools.

These collaborative efforts more effectively prepare novice teachers for the realities of teaching while enhancing their skills and knowledge for a smoother transition into the education system.

Also, more than a dozen teams from teacher preparation programs at minority-serving institutions are working with local district partners to support school hiring needs using BranchED’s Vacancy Data Tool. The tool helps align district teacher staffing needs and teacher preparation program certification areas, and it supports the development of targeted recruitment efforts to meet those needs.

Early results for all these partnership efforts are promising, prompting discussions on candidate placement strategies, district recruitment processes and marketing opportunities for upcoming vacancies. And we can further develop these partnerships by building additional tools that leverage the unique strengths and assets of districts and educator preparation programs to meet the needs of the communities they serve.

Related: OPINION: Arkansas is having success solving teacher shortages, and other states should take notice 

Nationally, over 300,000 teaching positions were vacant or filled by teachers who were not fully certified in recent years. That’s why better alignment between teacher preparation programs’ production of teachers and school district staffing needs is warranted.

Through community partnerships, we can build a pipeline of educators equipped to thrive in today’s classrooms on day one, delivering a more inclusive and equitable education system for all.

Minority-serving institutions are doing their share by partnering with their communities to solve persistent problems at the local and district levels. They are also becoming more prominent players in our teacher preparation environment, leading the way in addressing local teacher shortages and driving innovative pathways into the profession.

By 2025, students of color will comprise nearly half of all college students. As minority-serving institutions continue to be major accelerants of this progress, these historic institutions will play a pivotal role in building a high-quality teacher workforce that looks more like America’s students.

Cassandra Herring is founder, president and CEO of Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity.

This story about the teacher shortage and minority-serving institutions was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s weekly newsletter.

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For far too many students, the joy of getting into college this year is clouded by the uncertainty of not knowing what it will cost. That’s the result of a crisis in the financial aid system that is the lifeblood of college access for millions of Americans.

We can and must give these students more time to gather financial aid offers, weigh their options and make good decisions.

The root of the trouble is a glitch-plagued revision to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The rocky rollout of the new FAFSA has caused extraordinary delays this year in transmission of essential financial data from the federal government to colleges and universities.

As a result, many college applicants are receiving offers of admission without knowing how much grant aid they would receive if they enroll, along with the size of loans they might need to cover tuition and other bills.

Related: The Fafsa fiasco could roll back years of progress it must be fixed immediately

Meanwhile, the traditional college decision date looms: May 1. That is barely five weeks away. That’s why the American Council on Education and other higher education groups are urging colleges to extend their deadlines.

For the past half century, May 1 has been the consensus make-up-your-mind moment for students admitted to selective colleges and universities. By that date, they must place a deposit to secure their spot in a class. 

There are good reasons for a deadline. It focuses the minds of those pondering multiple offers who might keep waffling without a fixed date to force a decision. It accelerates the sifting and sorting that occurs as colleges turn to wait lists to meet enrollment targets.

The deadline enables the start of housing assignments and planning for orientation and other summer programs and helps nudge admitted students to give one more look to colleges that struggle to fill seats.

May 1, in short, is a crucial turning point as colleges wrap up one school year and prepare for another.

But that date is not set in stone. Four years ago, hundreds of colleges eased their enrollment-commitment deadlines in response to the coronavirus pandemic and widespread economic and social upheaval. And in general, May 1 is much less relevant, or not relevant at all, to colleges that have rolling or open admissions.

It is heartening that many selective schools did decide to push back deadlines after the Education Department warned in late January that FAFSA information will arrive well behind schedule. Some data has begun to flow, but the effects of the backlog are continuing and profound.

ACE counts well over 175 deadline extenders, and the total is rising. They include DePaul University, one of the nation’s largest Catholic institutions; North Carolina A&T State University, the nation’s largest historically Black institution; the University of California and California State University systems; the universities of Georgia and Florida; and most members of the Big Ten.

They also include liberal arts schools such as Wesleyan University and Agnes Scott, Amherst, Kalamazoo, Lewis & Clark and Williams colleges.

Approaches vary. Some schools are pushing back to May 15, others to June 1. Some are extending deadlines only for in-state students. Some ask for deposits by May 1 but allow refunds until June 1. All are demonstrating admirable solidarity with students in financial need.

It is not too late for others to join them.

Highlighting the complexity of the situation, many colleges face financial and competitive pressures to meet enrollment targets and cite those reasons for maintaining deadlines. Their arguments cannot be lightly dismissed.

Also, more than 100 well-resourced colleges and universities have developed timely financial aid offers using information from the College Board’s CSS Profile questionnaire. That gives those schools an edge over others that rely only on FAFSA.

But applicants often secure admission to both kinds of schools – those that use CSS Profile and those that don’t. These students might face decision-making quandaries if some financial aid offers arrive much later than others.

Some CSS Profile users, including the University of Virginia, William & Mary and Georgia Tech, have extended deadlines. Most have not.

Those holdouts would have a powerful impact and, quite possibly, could help alleviate the crisis with even modest deadline extensions. Even if schools leave deadlines unchanged, it would be extremely helpful for them to acknowledge the FAFSA crisis and give clear public assurances that they will make exceptions for students who need more time.

Many higher education problems defy simple solutions. To raise graduation rates, for example, or to contain costs and lower student debt, requires sustained effort on many fronts and the will to innovate.

But this crisis is different. Colleges should do their best to give families breathing room to make good choices.

At a time of dwindling public confidence in higher education, pushing back a few deadlines to help students in need is the least we can do. And it just might help restore a bit of that lost confidence.

Nick Anderson is vice president for higher education partnerships and improvement at the American Council on Education. Previously, he covered higher education for The Washington Post. 

This op-ed about the FAFSA was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.

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Amid the excitement and anticipation that typically accompany the approach of graduation day there hangs a disheartening reality at our high schools this year: many students won’t have the clarity of knowing where their future lies before they walk across the graduation stage.

The delay in processing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms has cast an unexpected shadow over their aspirations, particularly for those who are the first in their families to pursue higher education.

The resulting uncertainty is striking hardest at the hearts of our first-generation and socioeconomically disadvantaged students – especially those with undocumented parents – for whom the prospect of college is not just a personal triumph, but often a generational milestone.

The new “better” FAFSA introduced this year was in fact worse for most students because of system glitches and was particularly troublesome for any student with a parent who does not have a social security number.

Our students in this situation will likely not know their federal financial aid packages until after many private college decision deadlines.  The predicament disproportionately burdens students who are already navigating a labyrinthine college application process, often without essential support systems available to their more affluent peers.

We applaud the University of California, California State University, and other public institutions nationwide for extending their deadlines to accommodate these delays. We also applaud those private universities that have followed suit. But there remain many private universities that have not.

Students from low-income backgrounds are only about half as likely to enroll and complete college by age 26, according to the National College Attainment Network. This disparity is further amplified for students with undocumented parents, who may face invisible challenges due to limited finances, fear of deportation for themselves or their families, and a general sense of uncertainty about their place in the educational landscape.

The additional stress of uncertain financial aid deadlines only compounds such challenges, adding another layer of difficulty and potentially dissuading them from pursuing their educational ambitions.

This issue arises at a critical juncture in higher education. Universities across the nation are seeking to diversify their student bodies and attract more first-generation students. Creating a more equitable playing field for all students is paramount in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action.

The current FAFSA delay throws a wrench into these efforts.

The schools we head in the San Francisco Bay Area, Alpha Public Schools and Cristo Rey San José, collectively serve 198 high school seniors, the majority of whom will be first-generation college students – including a significant portion with undocumented parents.

Their journey is already fraught with obstacles. They already navigate complex application processes, deal with financial constraints, and often lack the familial support that many of their peers take for granted.  FAFSA delays have thrust additional hurdles upon our students.

We need additional collective action on the part of more colleges, demonstrating a commitment to equitable educational access while shielding students from the repercussions of administrative inefficiencies beyond their control.

We also urge fellow organizations and institutions to unite in advocating for a long-term solution on a national scale.

Let us stand together in defense of the dreams and aspirations of our nation’s youth regardless of their background or the federal government’s administrative shortcomings.

Together, we can ensure that the door to higher education remains open for all students.

Shara Hegde is the CEO of Alpha Public Schools, a network of charter schools in San Jose, CA.

Silvia Scandar Mahan is the president and CEO of Cristo Rey San José Jesuit High School and Corporate Work Study Program.

This story about FAFSA and disadvantaged students was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.

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The cursing came loud and fast from a nearby room, followed by a slamming sound. This was a few years back, and I immediately suspected the culprit: the dreaded FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, with all its glitches and complexities. 

My husband was losing his cool while attempting to fill it out for the second time in two years. Across America right now, so are millions of parents, students and counselors, frustrated by a failed promise to finally streamline this unwieldy gatekeeper to college dreams.

It’s a terrible time for anyone who counted on that U.S. Department of Education promise, and many are calling for an urgent push for help, including through legislation  and a marshalling of resources from institutions like libraries and groups such as  AmeriCorps.

“I don’t think we’ve seen a full court press about FASFA completion yet,” said Bill DeBaun, a senior director at the National College Attainment Network. “This is an emergency. We need all-hands on deck: governors, state departments, agencies, influencers at the White House. We are kind of at the point where we need to stop nibbling and take a big bite.”

Anyone who has dealt with the FAFSA knows how needlessly complicated and unreliable it can be: In the midst of back-to-back college application season for my two kids, the site kept kicking us out, then losing the previous information we’d painstakingly provided. 

Don’t worry, parents were told over and over, it will get easier, it’s being fixed. A bipartisan law passed in 2020 initiated a complete overhaul of the FAFSA. But after a problematic soft launch on Dec. 30, glitches and delays are inflicting pain on undocumented students, first-generation college goers and others who can’t decide how and if attending college will be possible without offers and aid packages.

The so-called shorter, simpler form so far has been anything but, although DeBaun said many families have submitted it swiftly without problems. Still, as of March 8, there have been roughly 33 percent fewer submissions by high school seniors than last year, NCAN data show.

The finger-pointing and blaming right now is understandable, but not helpful: It threatens years of efforts to get more Americans to and through college at a time when higher education faces both enrollment declines and a crisis of public confidence, in part due to spiraling prices.

Fewer than 1 in 3 adults now say a degree is worth the cost, a survey by the Strada Education Network found, and many fear FASFA snafus could lead to more disillusionment about college.

“FAFSA is such a massive hurdle, and if they [students and parents] can’t get this first step done, they may say it’s too complicated, maybe college isn’t for me,” said Scott Del Rossi, vice president of college and career success at College Possible, which helps low-income students and those from underrepresented backgrounds go to and through college.

Del Rossi wonders why the form wasn’t user-tested before being rolled out, and is among those calling for urgent solutions, beyond band-aid fixes that are literally keeping Department of Education staffers up all night.  

Related: Simpler FAFSA complicates college plans for students and families

“As much staff as government has, it’s not enough for students right now,” said Yolanda Watson Spiva, president of the national advocacy group Complete College America. She wants colleges to do more to directly help applicants still struggling to fill out the forms.

“They should be sharing webinars and workshops and talking about what’s happening and how [students] can begin in spite of the problems,” Watson Spiva said. “If we don’t have those conversations, parents will say this [college] isn’t worth it, and they will look for other opportunities and options.”

Even before the FAFSA fiasco, that’s been happening. In 2021, the proportion of high school graduates going directly to college fell to 62 percent from a high of 70 percent in 2016, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At the same time, costs have more than doubled in the last 40 years, even when adjusted for inflation.

The task ahead is daunting: The Department of Education only started sending batches of student records this week to colleges that will determine aid offers, and about 200 have already extended the traditional May 1st deadline for students to accept offers.

No wonder parents and students are “stressing out and overwhelmed,” said Deborah Yanez, parent programs manager at TeenSHARP, a nonprofit that prepares students from underrepresented backgrounds for higher education.

“This is a special time for them; they have dreamed about sending their kids off to college, but now they are being held in this place of limbo, not knowing what the numbers are,” Yanez told me.

More colleges should extend deadlines for student decisions, Del Rossi said. Counselors that College Possible works with usually say it take at least three interactions, or sessions, with parents to conquer the FAFSA, but many are now reporting the recent form requires more than six – and many are still unsuccessful, Del Rossi said.

“We have to continue to encourage them not to give up and not to lose hope,” Del Rossi said. “We tell them it is not their fault, these are just glitches, but it’s a little heartbreaking.”

But turning to college counselors for help is not always a viable option for public school students, where public school counselors handle an average caseload of 430 students, well above the 1:250 ratio the American School Counselor Association suggests.

And this admissions year has the added complication of being the first since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision barring colleges from considering race as a factor in admissions, along with being a time of rapidly changing rules around whether standardized test scores is required for admission.

Related: Will the Rodriguez family’s college dreams survive the end of affirmative action?

That’s why the message about the importance of a college education must continue, and students must be told not to give up. Still, if they can’t fill out the form and the government can’t turn the forms over to schools in time, it’s game over.

This story about the FASFA was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters.

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