Colleges Are Swimming in Financial Uncertainty Amid the FAFSA Mess

The number of first-time and transfer students who have paid deposits to attend Coker University this fall is nearly 5 percent higher than at the same time last year. Normally, that would be great news. But Natalie Harder, president of the small private college in South Carolina, isn’t certain that all those students will show up. May is traditionally when colleges gain clarity about their incoming classes. This year, those enrollment projections have a big asterisk. That’s because the number of federal-aid applications is significantly lower than in past years, leading to fears that fewer students will go to college at all this fall.