An overwhelming majority of colleges and universities did not change priority aid deadlines in response to an earlier financial aid cycle last year, according to a surveyof member institutions by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
The Department of Education last year moved up the release of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid from Dec. 1 to Oct. 1 -- a change made to give incoming college students more time to submit the applications and to consider financial aid offers before deciding on a college. The earlier aid cycle was also made possible by the adoption of prior-prior year income data in applications. That allowed students and families to submit tax information already on file with the government rather than estimating income before they submitted their taxes.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/07/20/most-colleges-did-not-change-aid-deadlines-response-early-fafsa