--- description: And others who needed aid didn't get it at all title: U.S. Department of Education: Some Errors with 2014-2014 Federal Aid image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Education](/tag/education/) ## Education Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # FAFSA Application Confusion Led to Some Students Getting Aid in Error by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 24, 2014 1:29 AM CUT by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 24, 2014 1:29 AM CUT Thousands of students’ federal student aid could be at risk due to a change on the [Free Application for Federal Student Aid ](http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/071814IssAlertUpcomeCPSReprocRecQuesIncEarnWorkVals.html "undefined")(FAFSA) form. Students’ may have input incorrect income due to the system’s requirement that families round to the nearest dollar. In many cases, the [Department of Education ](http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/071814IssAlertUpcomeCPSReprocRecQuesIncEarnWorkVals.html "undefined")believes students entered unnecessary decimal points and cents that went unrecognized and as a result, some students who needed federal aid were denied and others received it when they weren’t eligible. “For example, an applicant with an Income Earned from Work value of $5,000.19 who, as a result of entering both the dollars and cents would have, instead of the correct value of $5,000, a value of $500,019 used in the calculation of the applicant’s Expected Family Contribution (EFC),” an announcement dated July 18 reads. “This would likely result in an incorrect determination of the applicant’s eligibility for a Federal Pell Grant and for other subsidized aid.” The [_Associated Press_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/awarded-pell-grant-better-double-check "undefined") first reported the story Wednesday. The Department of Education believes fewer than 200,000 applicants will be impacted by the glitch. The form has since been changed and the Department is working to contact students and schools to have forms resubmitted. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3026662/fafsa-application-confusion-led-to-some-students-getting-aid-in-error/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3026662/fafsa-application-confusion-led-to-some-students-getting-aid-in-error/"},"headline":"FAFSA Application Confusion Led to Some Students Getting Aid in Error","datePublished":"2014-07-24T01:29:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:18:54.455Z","description":"And others who needed aid didn't get it at all","url":"https://time.com/3026662/fafsa-application-confusion-led-to-some-students-getting-aid-in-error/","keywords":["Education","College"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3026662/fafsa-application-confusion-led-to-some-students-getting-aid-in-error/","name":"FAFSA Application Confusion Led to Some Students Getting Aid in Error"}}]}] ```