A temporary freeze imposed briefly this week by the White House on federal grants and loans left many students wondering about the impact to the FAFSA form used to apply for financial aid.
President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday rescinded the memo freezing spending. The U.S. Department of Education said even if the pause had taken effect, it would not have applied to direct assistance to Americans including federal student loans.
And FAFSA apparently remained available during the confusion. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, a nonprofit membership organization, said Wednesday it had not received complaints about FAFSA availability from administrators at any schools.
Still, many borrowers were asking online if the FAFSA was affected.
Is the FAFSA form paused?
No. Student loans, Pell Grants and other forms of student aid provided directly to individuals were not affected by the freeze.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid application itself is available for students to complete at StudentAid.gov.
“We continue to award and disburse federal student aid, ″ the Federal Student Aid Office of the U.S. Department of Education says in a statement on its website.
FAFSA applications for the 2024-2025 academic year are due June 30, after which the application will be unavailable on the student aid website. Colleges can have their own deadline and often require applications be submitted before the federal deadline in the summer.
How were college students affected by the Trump administration’s funding pause?
Colleges across the U.S. released statements saying the impact of the memorandum was unclear and they were working to better understand how it could affect students, staff and programs. But students who rely on financial aid to pay for tuition and other costs were not expected to see any disruptions from the pause.
“Funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused,” the U.S. Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.
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