The school year will soon come to an end.

And four high school seniors planning for college.

It's time to submit the free application for federal Student Aid or FAFSA.

But there are some glitches and delays to be aware of this year.

More in tonight's Education Matters segment.

We recommend that all students who are college bound complete a FAFSA, but it's the way that they access federal student aid.

State student aid and even some institutional aid.

But there are some challenges to the application process this year due to a rollout of changes outlined by the FAFSA Simplification Act.

They've really tried to make the process as simple as possible.

It will just take some time to work out the kinks.

There's a signature glitch where it will submit before it captures both signatures of the parents and student.

There are glitches in terms of people not seeing their FAFSA submission summary, so they're not seeing that it's definitely been submitted that they have a student aid index.

Adding to the technical issues, the application opening was delayed from October 1st to the end of December.

We're working on a compressed timeline and we're working with a process that is new to both students and families, as well as those of us who work in the college action space that help students and families.

Even institutions.

It's new for everyone, so it's been a bit of a learning process.

He says FAFSA submissions are down 36%.

In Kentucky, 150,000 have been submitted.

So far in the state and 4.7 million nationwide.

But only 1.7 of those are marked as complete.

And so that tells us right there that there are glitches across the board.

Some institutions haven't been able to inform students yet of how much aid they're eligible for because there's processing delays on the back end to.

That's all temporary.

This all will eventually go away.

The good news is, as the system glitches are ironed out, the new form aims to make the process easier and faster.

And by and large, there are good changes.

There are changes that increase eligibility to more families, which is always a good thing.

And it's really an intuitive experience when you're on the FAFSA form and you're filling it out the way it captures your income data.

It doesn't take as much time as it used to take.

They are able to pull their federal tax information in directly from the IRS.

KIYA offers outreach services to help families struggling with the process.

There are 13 counselors across the state ready and willing to help.

You can find your local outreach counselor on Care.com and you can reach out to them.

They'll help you virtually.

They will come to you.

They will meet you at a library, and they can book an appointment to really sit down and walk you through all of the issues that you're having.

They stress that students not be deterred by the changes and to take steps to fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible.

We wouldn't want anybody to put their post-secondary plans on hold just because there have been some hiccups this year.

We do see that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

The form is getting easier and the knowledge is there.

Now he says there is no deadline, but you are encouraged to complete your FAFSA as soon as possible, and there are many resources to help you do so.

And that includes college financial aid 2024, which you can watch right now on dot org.

Here are experts from Kentucky.

Colleges and universities provide practical information about applying for financial aid.