Monmouth extends enrollment deadline by month

In response to delays with the U.S. Department of Education’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), Monmouth College has extended the deadline for its enrollment deposit to June 1.

The decision, which extends the college’s deadline by one month, was not hard, Monmouth President Clarence Wyatt said in a Friday release.

“This was an easy decision to make because Monmouth takes care of our families,” said Wyatt. “Monmouth is committed to serving our students and their families during this major disruption to their college decision-making process.”

Colleges learned this week from the U.S. Department of Education that they will not receive students’ financial aid data from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — known as the FAFSA — until at least mid-March. The FAFSA is being delayed because of a major overhaul by the U.S. Department of Education.

“We want to ensure that the decision-making process is not rushed and allows our students and family members the space they need to make a well-informed and confident choice,” said Stephanie Levenson, Monmouth vice president for enrollment management. “This extra time will allow our families to understand their financial aid offer and direct costs, visit our campus again, and engage in additional meaningful conversations with members of the Monmouth community about the college.”

Monmouth is one of the “Top Performers on Social Mobility” among National Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2024 issue of the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges guide. Among Monmouth’s first-year class, 45% of students received a Pell grant, which is awarded to students whose families display exceptional financial need on their FAFSA. Overall, 37% of the college’s student body received a Pell grant this school year.

To help area residents navigate the changes in the FAFSA, members of the Monmouth Office of Student Financial Planning have been visiting high schools to work with students and families.

Levenson said that Monmouth’s extension of the deadline for its enrollment deposit will also help high school counselors and teachers.

“Our high school partners do a tremendous job, often with very limited staff and resources, and it is important for us to support them as they help students and families navigate the college decision-process this year in a compressed time frame,” she said. Monmouth will share information about the new enrollment timeline soon with all admitted students for fall 2024.

Previous communications listing May 1 as the enrollment deposit deadline should be disregarded. If additional delays are announced by the U.S. Department of Education, adjustments may be made to support students and families.

W. Kent Barnds, Augustana College executive vice president, recently lambasted the Education Department changes, which he called “mind-blowing.”

“This will be the latest that I’ve been able to award aid to college-bound students in the 32 years that I had been doing enrollment work,” he posted on LinkedIn. “I thought this was supposed to make things better.

“Leadership at Department of Education should be ashamed of this failure and every single higher education industry group that actually does put students first should show no mercy to Department of Education about this colossal failure of public policy,” Barnds said.

Augustana is extending the FAFSA filing grant to March 1. “We are exploring ways to provide families with an accurate estimate of the final cost to attend. But we have not yet made a decision about moving the reply date,” Barnds said Friday about the enrollment deadline.

“We are assessing whether or not we believe we can still deliver what families need from us in a timely manner in order to make a final decision and believe we can still deliver, even with the delays,” he said. 

St. Ambrose University in Davenport also is extending the enrollment deadline to June 1.

“We care deeply about our students and their families and understand the kind of impact this disruption is having on their college decision-making process,” Toby Arquette, SAU’s Vice President of Strategic Growth, Marketing & Digital Transformation, said Friday. “That’s why we’ve made the important decision to extend our enrollment deadline to June 1.

“St. Ambrose University students and their success are our top priority and we will continue to work with them very closely to provide personal support in navigating the financial aid process,” he said. “We encourage anyone with questions to reach out to our Student Financial Services advisors.”