Appointment Thoughts/FAFSA Delay

[flying2024]

For those BGOs, ALOs, FFRs, etc. who have a ton of experience doing this....

Appointments have recently been a little quiet on the forum, so the expectations for this week and coming weeks is high. Given prior year information, it seems there might be a "slight delay" in appointments - could just be an illusion. Any input from BGOs/ALOs/FFRs if they are hearing anything on how the FAFSA delay will impact appointments (if at all) this year? I am hearing from my civilian colleges that I now have until 6/1 to accept offers - instead of the usual 5/1 as in prior years. Keep in mind this is today - hopefully that is not extended further. With this date being pushed out, will the academies delay things at all and does that change how they operate between now and then? I would think they would hate to have people accept an appointment by 5/1 to only change their mind later after the 6/1 date and impact the acceptance rates/statistics. FAFSA won't change my decisions at all, but I have friends who will be impacted.

 

[Nomad@heart]

I seriously doubt there will be any changes in dates for the Academies. When my husband was on staff at the USAFA they had a giant calendar already laid out for the entire year. So much scheduling and to change anything on the schedule was really challenging. I can’t imagine they would be capable of pushing things even a week… let alone a month.

 

[IronmanDaremo]

FAFSA has no direct affect on service academies. They have their own agenda and own needs to meet dates to fully assemble the class.

I would be highly surprised if they shift their acceptance date.

 

[smokey%]

All three academies said I had to respond by May 1st

 

[pa-outdoorsman]

If anything, I would think this year's FAFSA delays will make offers of SA appointment even more attractive, given the uncertainty of college costs elsewhere.

That said, as I've already noted in a couple other threads, the FAFSA delay WILL have an impact on the timing of school commitments for at least some ROTC scholarship recipients, who may need to wait until they have final aid packages in hand from all schools under consideration before they can make an informed decision from a financial standpoint.

We too have seen most of the schools move to the 6/1 decision deadline. If it doesn't go beyond that, I don't see it being a major issue. If it does drag on further, I could potentially see Cadet Command dealing with a higher than usual number of scholarship transfer requests this summer. As with so much that is discussed on this board, only time will tell.