Mark Messingschlager, director of financial aid for Thomas More University, was featured on WLWT’s 4pm news on Wednesday, May 1 for a discussion about how this year’s FAFSA delays are impacting students, families, colleges and universities across the nation following the overhaul of FAFSA led by the U.S. Department of Education.

You can watch the full segment online here.

While traditionally the beginning of May is when many high school seniors indicate their selections of a college of university, this year that timeline has been pushed back for some, due to delays and glitches with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

“We didn’t get the data at the schools until mid-March,” Messingschlager explained, in conversation with WLWT’s Ashley Kirklen. “And then, it only took about two days before the federal government said – ‘wait a minute, we’ve found issues.’ And ultimately, that’s where we are today. There’s about a million FAFSAs out there that we know of that still have issues.”

Messingschlager noted that his team has been working to get financial aid offers to students as quickly as possible, ultimately completing some financial calculations by hand, as encouraged by the federal government. “As that information is finally starting to come in to us, we want to make absolutely certain that it is correct before we get it out to families,” Messingschlager said.

 Messingschlager’s message to students and families right navigating college decisions amid the FAFSA glitches: “Please, don’t get discouraged.”

Messingschlager and the Office of Financial Aid at Thomas More University will host a Q&A session on Wednesday, May 15 from 4-5 p.m. over Zoom to help address concerns about FAFSA and answer lingering questions. Please visit the link here to register and receive the meeting details.