Many of us grew up seeing the Prince spaghetti ad on television. You know, the one where the woman stuck her head out the window and bellowed, “ANTHONY!” for all of Boston’s North End to hear.

Young Anthony wasn’t in hot water with his ma. She just wanted to be sure he knew the Prince Spaghetti was ready to be served. He hustled home, too.

Who wouldn’t?

The ad sounded this way: “Most days, Anthony takes his time going home. But not today. Today is Wednesday, and as every family in the North End of Boston will tell you, Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day.”

Yankee‘s New England.com says the ad premiered on Boston TV in 1969 and ran for 13 years. “Anthony” was Anthony Martignetti, who died suddenly in 2020 at 62.

Prince Pasta was founded in Boston in 1912 by three Italian immigrants. The company moved to Lowell in 1939 but was sold in 1941 and again in 1987. Yankee says the company was still in Lowell in 1969 when the legendary Prince Spaghetti Day ad campaign launched. The Lowell plant closed in 1997.

The Pennsylvania-based New World Pasta Company now owns Prince Pasta and the product is produced in St. Louis.

Though the ad declared Wednesday as Prince Spaghetti Day in Boston’s North End, anyone in Greater New Bedford with rabbit ears who could pick up the Boston television stations adopted Wednesday as Prince Spaghetti Day and fell in love with Anthony Martignetti.

The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education has pushed back the priority deadline for the state’s largest financial aid program from May 1 to July 1 — allowing students more time as they scramble to sort through the messy rollout of federal updates to the financial aid application.

“Our message to students and families continues to remain the same: fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible,” said Commissioner of Higher Education Noe Ortega. “This year’s extended deadline responds to feedback from students, campuses and other partners about this year’s unique challenges with FAFSA completion. We want students to know there are significant financial aid dollars available for those who qualify, and that persevering through completing the FAFSA is worth it.”

The extension allows students attending private and public higher education institutions more time to fill out the FAFSA form and receive state financial aid through the MASSGrant program.

The move follows the Biden Administration’s call for states to extend their FAFSA deadlines. The administration changed the financial aid application this year with a slew of changes including those to eligibility calculations — allowing an estimated 600,000 more students to qualify for Pell Grants — and procedures for packaging financial aid.

Delays and glitches in the updated form’s rollout has left many families behind in getting their FAFSA submitted — then often corrected and resubmitted — and mass confusion officials and families have called “chaos” and a “catastrophe.” A U.S. House education subcommittee held hearings on the botched launch last week, and the Government Accountability Office is currently investigating the update process.

As of Mar. 29, 40% fewer high school students had completed FAFSA compared to the same date in 2023, the U.S. Department of Education reported.

Massachusetts is joining a list of several states that have extended the deadline, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Maryland, Mississippi and California. Many private and public colleges around the country have also pushed back deposit and financial aid deadlines to allow students time to sort out their FAFSA.

“We all want students and families to have the time they need to consider their financial options before making enrollment decisions,” the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and nine other national education organizations wrote in a letter urging colleges to extends the deadline and citing the precedent for FAFSA extensions set during the pandemic.

Many state legislators applauded the administration’s move to allow students more time. State House Speaker Ron Mariano said the impact will be most felt by “students most in need of financial support to make college a reality.”

The Healey administration updates the MASSGrant program in November to allow Pell Grant eligible students free tuition to Massachusetts public colleges and universities and cut the tuition and fees in half for students whose families make between $73,000 and $100,000 annually.

“With FAFSA delays, this has been a challenging year for all students but particularly for those that attend state universities as so many of them are first generation to college,” said Salem State University President John Keenan. “The MASSGrant extension will provide families with a clearer picture of how they can obtain their bachelor’s degree, a dream within reach for many.”

State officials urged students to complete their FAFSA applications as soon as possible, noting that students who qualify for the state’s MASSGrant state aid program who file by July 1 are guaranteed to receive the aid. Students who cannot file FAFSA because of their immigration status may fill out the Massachusetts version MASFA to receive state aid.