Delays in PA State Grant disbursement are preventing college students from receiving refund checks from their private loan servicers after procedure changes cause statewide disruption.
While Pennsylvania universities wait for the grant, estimated refunds designated for school-certified expenses are being withheld from students as their account balances remain outstanding.
“I was curious about it because we’re already a while in [the semester] and I was expecting some kind of cash back and I never got that email so I was a little bit confused,” Matt Crane a sophomore said.
The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), who is responsible for determining eligibility and dispersing the grants, sent out a memorandum to Pennsylvania universities on Sept. 17 addressing the delay and upcoming steps for deployment.
The memo, which was sent by PHEAA’s Vice President of Program Development, Management and Operations Margaret Keithley, said that the delay was largely caused by procedure changes within the organization.
“After months of continued development, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency is ready to announce the next deployment of functionality within our new PA State Grant System,” Keithly said. “This next release of functionality was deployed today and supports our continued efforts for determining eligibility and calculating student awards for the PA State Grant Program for the 2024-25 academic year.”
The document outlines the relevant organizational changes, as well as when universities can expect to receive the grants.
“The process of screening new and renewal student records is estimated to be completed over the next 2 weeks,” Keithly said. “This time estimate may change, however, due to institutional changes made to student records, as they will take priority in the order of screening.”
The memo notes that students do not currently have access to their grant eligibility on the PHEAA website and cannot initiate or respond to eligibility review. The only action that can be taken at this time is to complete any outstanding grant application requirements.
While the PHEAA website is still largely under renovation, some user access has been reinstated for organizational users, such as the ability to update student records or enrollment information. PHEAA has also provided organizations with an estimation tool to help financial aid departments anticipate the amount awarded to each eligible student.
Sandra Cronin, senior associate director of financial aid, continues to go through documents and awards sent through PHEAA.“We are being proactive with the screening process currently,” Cronin said. “As the records come through that process, we verify the award amounts and/or add Pennsylvania state grants to students that were not previously awarded so the grant can show on the billing statement as anticipated aid.”
Some universities have instated plans for students who demonstrate pressing financial need as a result of the delay, such as Slippery Rock University in Butler County.
Alyssa A. Dobson, the director of financial aid and scholarships at Slippery Rock, said a “robust plan” has been instated for emergencies, such as if a student cannot pay their rent or purchase class books as a result of the delay. Through this system, the anticipated funds would be advanced to the student.
“We are hoping that PHEAA can deliver state grants soon and bring us closer to normal timing and processes so we can move forward in a positive direction,” Dobson said.
The PHEAA website states that the delay is also due, in part, to complications caused by the 2023-2024 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which was widely criticized earlier this year for its poor rollout and website functionality. This caused hurdles nationwide for students and institutions.
“This FAFSA cycle has been impactful in many ways this year,” Dobson said.
In an attempt to streamline the application process for students, the Department of Education lowered the number of eligibility questions from over 100 to 18, requiring a relaunch that was delayed by several months. After the application was rolled out, the large influx of applicants and continued technical difficulties caused significant complications in processing and information transferring.
The Department of Education is currently rolling out beta testing for the 2025-2026 FAFSA application before an official release in December. Approximately 1,000 students from select schools have been given invitational access to the new form to test its functionality.
A section of the Federal Student Aid website has been devoted to the new FAFSA, explaining when it will be available and the purpose behind the beta tests.
“Adopting this practice will enable us to find and resolve the kinds of errors that could derail the FAFSA completion process for students and their families,” the website says.
While students wait for the new form to become available, the Department of Education encourages them to prepare necessary materials and stay updated through email and social media.
