BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The financial aid fiasco has created headaches for Western New York families.
What was designed to make the process easier, the new simplified FAFSA rollout has now created a backlog for students trying to receive their financial aid package.
Each year, roughly 17 million students use FAFSA to receive federal or state financial aid to help pay for college.
This year, according to the Associated Press about 5.5 million students were able to submit their applications as of March.
This is due to a bug within the application that failed to include inflation.
Several local universities have pushed back their deposit deadline from May 1 to June 1.
This financial assistance stressor was taken to the council chamber floor Wednesday night as city leaders, college officials and local organizations all lend a helping hand.
7 News' Pheben Kassahun sat in to learn more about the scholarships and programs that are available for you and your student, right here in Buffalo.
Riverside Academy High School senior Ahmed is one of many who are facing issues with FAFSA delays.
"I'm still waiting for my FAFSA to be processed. I was one of the earlier ones to submit it on January 7th, I think," Ahmed shared.
A number of higher education institutions in the City of Buffalo were represented in the Wednesday meeting.
One of the ways to build strong relations with Buffalo Public Schools has led Villa Maria College this year to offer a district-wide dual enrollment agreement.
"What that means is that students throughout the district who take certain art and music classes are eligible to receive up to six credits of college credit from Villa Maria that they can transfer anywhere. This is free of charge to the students," Villa Maria College president Dr. Matthew Giordano said.
Ensuring the transition from high school to college is as strong as it can be.
Villa Maria College is also trying to get students into physical therapy and other rehab occupations.
"It's really critical in our community that the employers play a major role in helping to identify what the opportunities are and then we can build very structured pathways from high schools to colleges right into these career fields," Dr. Giordano said.
The educational opportunity program is open to all students who are graduating from a New York State High School.
Students have to take New York State residency but they do take DACA students.
EOP is for under-resourced families and for under-resourced students who have not yet fulfilled their potential in high school.
"If there were some struggles that you had in high school that did not allow you to show your potential in high school then EOP allows you to have a second chance," University at Buffalo Educational Opportunity Program Betsy Rodriguez said.
Any City of Buffalo students interested in going to UB, also the flagship of SUNY, should think about applying through EOP because it provides support that you would otherwise not have.
"UB does provide a lot of support for its students. We have an excellent admissions; you can fill out the SUNY Common application, you can fill out the Coalition Application, you can fill out the general Common App. There are lots of avenues but if you come in through EOP, you can apply to seven SUNY schools without paying any kind of deposit or fee," Rodriguez added.
Similar to UB's EOP, D'Youville University has an opportunity program called HEOP, or Higher Education Opportunity Program.
D'Youville University Student Affairs Vice President Benjamin Grant said, "But in addition to HEOP, we also offer students a C-Step program which is an educational access program focusing on STEM education. I actually had a meeting today with two students. We're in the research matching phase of that program and I've got two students who re very excited to study spiders."
CSTEP is meant to introduce educational resources and opportunities that students may not otherwise have or have considered exploring.
D'Youville is also an Upward Bound institution.
Grant added, "Upward Bound isn't necessarily to bring students to your institution but to prepare Buffalo students for higher education as a whole."
The D'Youville University also has some high-level support, including 24/7 mental health whether it be with an in-person mental health counselor or via telehealth.
"Every student is matched up with a one-on-one academic advisor as well as a faculty mentor. All of our students who enter D'Youville University are enrolled in our student "Ready Program" which gives all students every textbook, a laptop equipped with all of our software and an Oculus meta device preloaded with developmental programming, completely free," Grant said.
Canisius also has HEOP for students who face severe financial barriers but have the potential to go to school.
"Students are eligible if they are inadmissible throughout general admissions requirements so a student may come and they want to be a teacher and they want to go through the education department, if the academic requirement is that you have to have an 85, and they're at an 83, they can apply through HEOP. They just need to indicate it on their Common App or if they're applying directly on our website," Canisius College Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Fatima Rodriguez Johnson said.
Retention for SUNY Erie Community College is its main focus so they are working from K through 12, specifically at the 9th grade level and so forth.
ECC has a program called PTECH, which stands for Pathways in Technology Early College High School.
SUNY Erie Community College President Dr. Adiam Tsegai explained, "We have six of them in collaboration with Buffalo Public Schools. This is an opportunity to get our kids early to be exposed into the STEM program. In addition to that, we have about 2,000+ students who are part of the advanced study program with K-12."
Say Yes Buffalo and Connect were also present at this meeting sharing how students can further succeed in higher education.
