Maureen Ford has already been accepted to nine colleges and universities as she waits to graduate from Navajo Preparatory School on May 20. She wants to be the first generation in her family to graduate from college.

But first she needs to get her federal financial aid fixed as the clock ticks toward a May 1 deadline. Like many students across the country, Ford will rely heavily on financial aid to meet her goals.

Although she filed her application in January, the system still won’t allow her to complete the process.

“It’s very frustrating because I really want to know and submit my application because a lot of my colleges are asking for it,” Ford told ICT. “May 1 is coming up, and I need to make my decision on where I want to go to college. I really need to find out how much aid I am getting because I need financial aid for every college.”

Ford is among millions of students whose financial aid remains up in the air after changes to the national Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, have upended the application process.

Online system glitches, calculation errors and incorrect tax information have all contributed to the data exchange madness between the U.S. Department of Education, on-the-ground school specialists and students.

The changes could hit particularly hard for students at tribal colleges and universities and historically Black colleges and universities, where as many as 70-90 percent of students rely on financial aid, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Typically, 17 million students submit the form each year, but applications were down 40 percent nationwide as of March 29, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Delays have pushed back the timelines on the FAFSA process, which typically opens in October and responds to students by March. Most college award letters will start to arrive in May.

“The amount of stress that it’s causing students is pretty monumental,” said Sam Bader, a Kānaka Maoli teacher at Navajo Prep in Farmington, New Mexico, who helps students navigate the college application process.

The uncertainty is creating headaches not only for Native students and their parents, but also school counselors, college admissions administrators and executives.

Twyla Baker, Mandan-Hidatsa and Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College president, voiced concerns on social media about how the delays and glitches are affecting Native students.

“Requiring changes in FAFSA without funding resources to do so is a great way for politicians to cause problems for our most vulnerable students,” Baker wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“Millions of college students [are] in limbo.”

What is FAFSA?

The application system for financial aid was originally set up under the 1965 Higher Education Act under President Lyndon B. Johnson to establish the U.S. government as the primary provider of financial aid for college students.

The application was initially called the Financial Aid Form, or FAF, as an optional form for colleges and universities. In 1992, when the Higher Education Act was reauthorized by Congress, the form was standardized to FAFSA for all prospective students.

Federal financial aid can include Pell Grants and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, or SEOGs, which do not need to be repaid. Students can also receive federal direct student loans, which require repayment, and can participate in federal work-study programs.

With the details provided in FAFSA, the government uses a formula to calculate a student’s aid index – how much the government estimates the family can provide for college tuition and expenses.

A key component is that families are not required to be low-income to qualify for assistance. Students whose parents earn as much as $200,000 a year can be eligible for aid.

Many don’t ever apply, however. According to the College Board, millions of dollars in federal aid are left on the table because students failed to file a FAFSA. The College Board is a nonprofit organization that provides information to help students succeed in college.

This year, changes ostensibly to make the system easier have instead caused delays, with the government pushing back the deadlines from March 1 to May 1 for applying.

The revamped system does include some advantages, however. The number of questions on the form has been reduced from 103 to about 30, and applicants can fill out their income and college choices in a way that is considered more streamlined.

A new formula for determining financial aid will also make more students eligible for assistance, by making more low-income and medium-income families qualify. It also opens up eligibility requirements for homeless youth, foster care youth and incarcerated individuals, and allows more than one member in a family to attend college on aid.

“One of the big things, of course, is the new formula,” said Ruben Reyes, a public outreach coordinator for the New Mexico Educational Assistance Foundation who holds FAFSA workshops for counselors, parents and students.

“So that’s a positive thing,” Reyes said. “More students are going to be able to get more federal aid.”

Most college officials tout the new rollout, despite the roadblocks.

“It is a lot easier for a student and family members to complete the FAFSA than it ever was before,” said Michaela Willis, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at South Dakota State University.

“It doesn’t take very long,” Willis said. “You don’t have to give up three hours of your time. Fifteen minutes to a half-hour, and you could be finished with that FAFSA. So go out there, check it out, and get it done. It’s pretty quick and easy.”

Meanwhile, counselors are encouraging students in limbo to apply for state and private scholarships, the applications for which are usually readily available in high school and college financial aid offices.

New Mexico, for example, offers free in-state tuition to state residents to attend public colleges now, plus offering the New Mexico Opportunity grant and the lottery scholarship.

Some states also offer free tuition to Native students, but financial aid experts said the students are still eligible to apply for other grants and scholarships to help offset costs.

Counselors, also in wait mode, expect their jobs to extend into the summer months and maybe even into the fall.

“Unfortunately, financial aid staff will be under a massive workload in processing records for aid due to all the system glitches, calculations, and tax errors,” Reyes said. “Many corrections will need to be addressed, further delaying the process of awarding student aid for the fall.”

Impact on TCUs

The upheaval is creating problems for tribal colleges and universities as well.

In New Mexico alone, about 28 percent fewer graduating high school students – including Indigenous students – have yet to file their FAFSA.

Reyes said the year has been hectic.

“We are all working as hard as we can to try to ease the pain to all the students and families being Native American or any New Mexico student residents here in New Mexico,” Reyes said. “The new FAFSA rollout has been quite a challenge.”

At South Dakota State University, Willis said about 23 percent of self-identified American Indian and Alaska Native students did not complete the FAFSA for the 2023 or 2024 academic years.

“That does mean that 75 to 80 percent are relying on federal financial aid in part for their schooling,” Willis said. “We also know that within a specific group of students are Wokini Scholars, who must be tribally enrolled to be eligible for that scholarship. About 18 percent did not complete the FAFSA.”

At the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, counselor Scott Whitaker said that the institute staff cannot view even the applications submitted in January, further delaying the process.

“We can’t bring them in like we normally do and load them into our computer systems and start awarding financial aid based on that,” Whitaker said.

About 75 percent of IAIA students are Native American – about the same percentage as those who attend one of the 37 tribal colleges in the nation.

“I imagine it’s similar because we’re all drawing from a very similar population,” said Whitaker, a 35-year veteran in college financial aid.

Looking ahead

Meanwhile, as her high school graduation approaches, Ford faithfully returns to the online application in hopes of making the corrections the system has flagged.

It hasn’t been as simple as promised.

“I filed it back in January, but I’m currently waiting to make corrections,” she said. “There’s a button and it’s not letting me press it. There’s a notification saying that I’ll have to wait a couple more weeks in order to make corrections.”

Aiming to study human health or biological sciences, Ford dreams of attending Emory University in Georgia or Reed College in Oregon. She’s also interested in the University of Colorado.

“When I got most of my acceptances, it kind of boosted my confidence and made me want to finish high school,” Ford said. “I’m just really excited for what the future holds for me.”

Despite the hold-ups, Ford remains determined.

“I can’t really do anything,” she said. “I just have to wait and see. I check every day, every hour of the day.”

Julia Begay, another Navajo Prep senior, was accepted to 11 of the 14 colleges she applied to, but has received only two financial aid award letters. Waiting four months to hear back from FAFSA was a bit excruciating, but she has since committed to attend Seattle University.

“It was really torture,” said Begay, also a first-generation student to attend college. “My Mom, you know, has never experienced this before. So it was a first for both of us, and we were both just getting really impatient because I had to make these college decisions. But I couldn’t make it without my financial needs. It was really, really frustrating.”

After going through the process, Begay has sage advice for peers.

“Have patience and don’t worry about it too much,” Begay said. “Keep yourself busy and fill out what you need to fill out and do what you need to do.”

Reyes also tells students and parents not to lose faith.

“You’re still going to get that state aid, but just know that that federal aid will come in time,” said Reyes. “The schools may be a little bit behind on getting everything processed for you, but they will get it done eventually.”

He continued, “Just go through the process, make sure you get your admissions application done. Make sure you attend orientation in the fall. That’s very important at your chosen college. Go through all the steps and just move forward. Even if your financial aid award offer is not ready yet, just pretend that it is okay.”

Parents were left fuming last week when a scantily-clad drag queen performed at a New Mexico high school senior prom.

A viral video from Atrisco Heritage Academy High School’s senior prom showed the drag artist — identified by local outlets as Mythica Sahreen — dancing as dozens of teenagers watched on.

Some girls even joined in on the fun and danced with Sahreen, who wore a bodysuit and thigh-high boots and padded pantyhose to give the illusion of larger hips.

The kids’ parents, however, slammed the show as “lewd” and “highly inappropriate,” and were left questioning how the school administration could have invited such a performer for the teenage party.

“Why were the parents not warned that this was going to be happening at a school function? It’s still a school function, parents should still be made aware of the situation whether it’s a dance at school, sports, parents should be made aware of what is happening,” Morgan, the mother of a student at Atrisco Heritage Academy High School, told KRQE News 13.

Morgan added that she’s sent multiple children to Atrisco Heritage Academy High School, but didn’t have any issues until the 2023-24 academic year.

“This year it just seems like they’re failing, they’re failing the students, they’re failing the parents, to me it’s a fail all around,” she continued.

“What did they think they were going to get out of it? Like that’s so inappropriate,” said another parent, who asked to remain anonymous.

Another parent said she requested a refund for her children’s prom ticket.

The performance has also had negative repercussions on Sahreen, who told KRQE News 13 that he was not hired for the prom, but had been invited.

Since the video gained national attention, the performer has received death threats and threats against his employer.

On Thursday, Sahreen had wiped disparaging and hateful comments from his social media page.

Albuquerque Public Schools told parents in a letter Wednesday that “the district is aware of the performance and has begun an investigation to determine what occurred and how students were impacted.”

How the drag queen was invited to the prom remains a mystery — but the school’s principal has since been quietly replaced at Atrisco Heritage Academy High School.

Neither the high school or the school district immediately responded to The Post’s request for comment.

Over the years, we’ve seen every manner of anti-panhandling law introduced, passed, revoked, and re-introduced in cities across New Mexico. Many of the laws that have come and gone were repealed because they were unconstitutional. But it hasn’t stopped cities from trying again and again to push unhoused people out of sight through the threat of arrest; city officials invariably tinker with the language and see if it passes muster.  

Right now, we’re seeing a new wave of these efforts, all under the auspices of public safety. The Santa Fe City Council is expected to soon vote on a bill that would make it illegal for people to sit or stand on a median that is less than 36 inches. It mirrors similar bans implemented in Albuquerque in 2023 and in Espanola in 2022. Last month, Alamogordo passed a bill that punishes people with up to $500 in fines and 90 days in jail for soliciting or giving donations from a median. At a recent Las Cruces City Council meeting, there were talks of introducing a new bill to curb panhandling, and Governor Lujan Grisham has doubled down on her efforts to pass a statewide ban.

As these bills catch fire in New Mexico, it begs the question: What if our elected leaders used the same dedication and ingenuity to address the root causes of homelessness, instead of concocting new ways to punish people who are unhoused?

When our cities respond to homelessness with police, unpayable fees, and jail time, it only entrenches homelessness. A person who asks for money because they are too poor to afford a meal or a night in a hotel cannot afford to pay hundreds of dollars in fines. Any time spent behind bars for their inability to pay exorbitant fees only compounds their hardships. That’s because the stigma of jail time and criminal records make it all but impossible to obtain employment or housing. It’s clear to see that criminal legal system involvement and homelessness are part of a vicious feedback loop.

The National Prison Policy Alliance found that people who have been to prison one time experience homelessness at a rate nearly seven times higher than the general public. People incarcerated more than once are 13 times more likely than the rest of the population to experience homelessness. 

To truly address homelessness, New Mexico’s elected leaders must confront the decades of policy failures that have led to a lack of safe and affordable housing, access to mental and physical healthcare, substance use treatment and other essential wrap-around services. While we’ve made big strides in these areas, we should not undo that progress by coupling real solutions with failed policies.

The difficult reality is that many New Mexicans – and families across the country – are just one bad circumstance away from finding themselves in a similar position to the people they drive past, holding up a sign for help. Housing and food costs in the last few years have skyrocketed, and wages have not kept pace. Our state is also grappling with an enormous housing shortage. These factors contributed to a 48% increase in homelessness from 2022-23. 

Addressing a collective failure to adequately invest in our communities is in everyone’s best interest. It will take time, but unlike laws that respond with punishment, doing so will pay off in the long run.

The question is: Will our elected leaders continue with the status quo, or will they show the courage, humanity, and fortitude to forge a different path? New Mexicans deserve elected leaders who will do the latter. 

Nayomi Valdez is the public policy director at ACLU-NM and Monet Silva is executive director at New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness