Applying for financial aid was supposed to be easier in 2024 than it had been in previous years. The FAFSA Simplification Act led to a revised application with fewer than half as many questions as before, and it was supposed to take only 15 – 20 minutes to complete. But students encountered a process that was far from simple. The application window was delayed by months, there were dozens of technical glitches, most of the 5.4 million calls for assistance went unanswered, and first-time applicants typically needed 5 days to complete the form rather than 15 – 20 minutes.