As Colleges Receive FAFSA Records, Some Ask: ‘How Do We Trust This Data?’

Colleges and universities are contending with a growing list of technical problems in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which determines a student’s eligibility for grants and loans to pay for school. The errors will probably require the Education Department to reprocess numerous applications, which could further delay when some students receive aid offers. Already, the agency has said it miscalculated about 200,000 records it had processed before March 21. Now, college leaders worry that is only the tip of the iceberg. It is the latest snag in the tumultuous rollout of the new financial aid form, known as the FAFSA, that has upended the college admissions season.