Federal student aid funds are not impacted by the Jan. 27, 2025, guidance which temporarily paused federal financial assistance programs. In other words, Direct Loans and Pell Grants, and other forms of federal student aid are not affected and will not change. We continue to award and pay student aid. As always, we are paying close attention and will contact impacted students if anything changes.

After successful beta testing, the 2025-26 FAFSA is now open for everyone! As a reminder, the college’s priority filing deadline is March 1 and the deadline to file as a Michigan resident is July 1.

Applicants and current students who submit the FAFSA will receive a notification email from the Office of Financial Aid once it has been received.

Due to ongoing challenges with the FAFSA because of FAFSA Simplification, the release of the 2025-26 FAFSA will be delayed. While the FAFSA is typically released on October 1, this year the FAFSA will be released by December 1 for the 2025-26 school year. Plan to complete the FAFSA as soon as possible after it is released.

Because of the delay in the release of the FAFSA, financial aid offers for both admitted and returning students will be available later than normal. These delays should not continue past this year with the October 1 release of the FAFSA resuming for the 2026-27 year.

Check out our FAFSA Simplification page for more information on the changes. We will update this page as more information becomes available.

Due to the late launch of the FAFSA form, we expect to receive your financial aid information from the Department of Education in March at the earliest. We anticipate sending out financial aid packages to admitted students in April, once this information is received and processed. Students who have submitted the FAFSA will receive a notification email from the Office of Financial Aid once it has been received. Please note that K’s decision deadline has been extended to June 1 to ensure that you and your family have time to thoroughly review and consider the financial aid options available to you.

The initial soft launch of the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) has concluded and the form is now available at all times excluding planned maintenance. While the FAFSA is now fully open, there are a few items to note:

• After the FAFSA is submitted, the ability to make corrections will be unavailable until the form is processed which is not planned to occur until mid-March.
• The Department of Education will not begin sending FAFSA data to colleges until mid-March.
• There will be a delay in the college’s ability to download FAFSA data while we wait for our software vendor to update our system. Once we are able to download FAFSAs to our system, students will receive an email notification that we have received it.

The 2024-25 FAFSA has been released by the Department of Education! While the FAFSA is open, it has been released as a soft launch which means that there will be periodic outages for maintenance and monitoring. Users who can’t access the form during the soft launch should check back later to see if access has been opened again.  Applicants may also experience a waiting room feature to help control web volume. More information about the soft launch can be found on the Federal Student Aid website.

While students can fill out the form now, FAFSA data will not be shared with the college until late January. Students who have submitted the FAFSA will receive a notification email from the Office of Financial Aid once it has been received.

Due to changes to the FAFSA because of FAFSA Simplification, the release of the 2024-25 FAFSA will be delayed. While the FAFSA is typically released on October 1, this year the FAFSA will not be released until December for the 2024-25 school year. The Department of Education has not provided an exact date yet; however, they are required to release the FAFSA by January 1. Plan to complete the FAFSA as soon as possible after it is released.

Because of the delay in the release of the FAFSA, financial aid offers for both admitted and returning students will be available later than normal. These delays should be a one-time occurrence with the October 1 release of the FAFSA resuming for the 2025-26 year.

Check out our FAFSA Simplification page for more information on the changes. We will update this page as more information becomes available.

With the recent Supreme Court decision blocking the Biden-Harris Administration’s student debt cancellation plan and the end to the COVID-19 relief for student loans, interest accrual and payments will be resuming for Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans. Interest accrual is expected to begin on September 1, 2023 and payments on loans will resume in October 2023. Below you will find more detailed information regarding the upcoming changes to federal student loans.

For federal student loan borrowers who are still enrolled in college:

• If you have borrowed a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan, interest on the loan will begin accruing again beginning September 1, 2023. Payment is not required on the interest or principle while you are enrolled. However, if you are interested in making payments, please reach out to your federal student loan servicer. Servicer information can be found by logging into your account on the Federal Student Aid website.

For federal student loan borrowers who have graduated or withdrawn from college:

• Borrowers of a Federal Direct Subsidized or Unsubsidized Loan have a six-month grace period between when they leave college and when payment is required on loans:
  • If it has been less than six months since you left college, payment on loans will not be required until after the six-month grace period. You will be contacted by your loan servicer with information on when and how to begin making payments. Servicer information can be found by logging into your account on the Federal Student Aid website.
  • If it has been more than six months since you left college, you will be expected to begin making payments as soon as the payment pause ends. Payments on loans will be due starting October 2023. You can explore different payment plan options with your loan servicer or on the Federal Student Aid website. Watch out for communications from your loan servicer regarding your payments.
• Interest on all Federal Direct Subsidized or Unsubsidized Loans will begin accruing again beginning September 1, 2023.

For all borrowers, you should take the following steps to make sure you receive up to date information on your loans:

• Make sure you know who your loan servicer is and contact them with any questions. Servicer information can be found by logging into your account on the Federal Student Aid website.
• Update your contact information with your loan servicer to ensure that you receive important communications.
• Ensure that you read all communications from your servicer as they could include important information about your loans.

It’s time for current and prospective students to fill out their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)! The FAFSA is your key to need-based financial aid including funds from state, federal, and institutional programs. Returning K students should file their FAFSA before March 1. First-time filers can follow advice from the U.S. Department of Education. Explore our website to learn more about financial aid.

The Michigan Department of Treasury is hosting virtual Financial Aid Nights to provide information on FAFSA filing and available federal and state aid programs. The sessions are free and open to everyone.

It was recently announced by President Biden that some federal loan borrowers will be eligible for forgiveness of federal loans. Below you will find some high level details of this forgiveness program:

• Loans must have been disbursed on or before June 30, 2022. This means that loans for the upcoming 2022-23 academic year are not included.
• Parent PLUS Loans are included in this forgiveness.
• Borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year ($250,000 per year for married couples) in 2020 or 2021 are eligible. For students enrolled in school as a dependent student for FAFSA purposes between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, eligibility will be based on your parent’s income.
• For those meeting the income requirements, forgiveness is up to $10,000 if the borrower did not receive a Pell Grant while in college and up to $20,000 for those who did receive a Pell Grant while in college. You can check to see if you have received a Pell Grant by logging into the Federal Student Aid website.
• Most borrowers will have to apply for the forgiveness. An application is expected to be released by early October.

More information and FAQs can be found on the Federal Student Aid announcement page. That page will be updated with new information as it becomes available, so check back frequently.