TX and MD Move State Financial Aid Deadlines

By MorraLee Keller, Senior Director, Strategic Programming

Reading time: Two minutes

Continued delays in processing 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms, combined with the fact that students who have a parent(s) and/or spouse who do not have a Social Security number cannot submit the form online, have caused two states to move back their financial aid deadlines: Maryland and Texas.

This will be the second time this year that Texas has pushed back their deadline. The state had been using January 15 as its annual priority date, but changed it late last year to March 15. The most recent move pushes the deadline to April 15, 2024, for the 2024-25 application season. “We are grateful to our state agency leaders for their responsiveness in addressing the needs of our students and advisors by extending the Texas priority financial aid deadline due to the challenges in completing the FAFSA this year,” said National College Attainment Network (NCAN) member Texas College Access Network, or TxCAN, in a statement. “We hope this additional month will alleviate some of the anxiety experienced by students and advisors, allowing them to remain focused on successfully completing the financial aid process.”

The Maryland Higher Education Commission also announced that the priority deadline for their state’s financial aid application will be moved from March 15 to May 15, 2024. This change represents positive support for students who have been struggling with completion since the form opened in January.

California made a similar move earlier this year to push their March 2 deadline to April 2, 2024. A significant number of higher education institutes have also moved their priority deadline dates for the FAFSA. Students should reference institutions’ web sites to ensure they are filing by the correct date.

NCAN is tracking state aid application priority deadlines on this web page. Members are encouraged to check back often as this page is updated on a regular basis. Please note that states with applications available to undocumented students are also adjusting deadlines for those to match standard aid deadlines.

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