"FAFSA Loopholes and Glitches: Navigating Financial Aid Challenges for Students and Parents"

A glitch in the FAFSA prevented Texas students with non-citizen parents from applying for financial aid, but a temporary workaround now allows them to submit an incomplete form before the March deadline. The Department of Education expects a fix by March, but students who use the workaround will need their parents to add signatures later. Approximately one in four Texas children have at least one non-citizen parent, and the workaround is seen as the first acknowledgment of the glitch's impact on immigrant households.