A senior walks into the college and career center stressed about how they do not know where they will be going to school in the fall. She is greeted by Curtis Menke, the college and career counselor at MCHS, who assures her that she is not alone in her indecisions. As their meeting goes by, she walks out of his office one step closer to a decision.

With the delayed release of the 2024-2025 FAFSA, Free Application for Federal Student Aid, many seniors in MCHS and across the country have been battling indecision of their next step.

“The FAFSA is the application for financial aid. Financial aid is help from the government to pay for people’s next steps and make next steps more accessible,” said Menke. “Each school’s financial aid offices will not get student financial information until early March, which is a very quick turnaround time for colleges to get their financial reports collected and sent back to students and families to make informed decisions about their next step.”

In typical years, the FAFSA is released in October, but this year it was released in January. This was due to the FAFSA being restructured by the Department of Education to simplify the form. For many students that are seniors this has impacted their ability to make a decision on what will be their next step.

“There’s something nobody can control and that’s all the FAFSA delays,” stated Menke. “We have dozens of students who are still waiting on financial aid results to come in to see what’s realistic for them for that next step and that’s completely fair.”

Many students feel that with the delayed FAFSA release, they can not make a smart decision because they do not know how they are going to pay for school.

“I’m stuck between paths right now,” said Jack Fisher, a senior at MCHS. “My main problems are financial concerns and personal enjoyment. Honestly I’m just kinda lost because had the FAFSA been released sooner I’d be more confident with the financial concerns.”

Along with lack of decision making there has also been a lack of decisiveness within the senior class that counselors at MCHS have noticed. This is due to many reasons, but the main one being financial concerns that students have.

“I have talked with more students in the last couple years who have expressed concern about finances later than I probably have in all the previous years combined,” said Menke. “Concerns about debt, concerns about wasting time, concerns about being wrong, concerns about failing at, you know, whatever the next step is.”

Some seniors fear the extra cost of deciding on a college when they still are not sure what they want to do.

“How much college costs and I have an older brother who’s going out of state for college,” said senior Ellen Maciaszek. “So I didn’t want my parents to have to pay more for me to go, especially if I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go.”

For this year’s seniors, the indecisiveness on what the next step is has caused a higher level of stress.

“My stress and emotions have been a little off lately due to my next steps, and the stress that comes with said steps,” said Fisher. “It’s not that I’m concerned with the step itself, but where or what I want to do with my next step that’s stressing me out.”

Decision day for colleges is typically May 1, which could also add stress to this year’s seniors if they are unsure on where they are taking their next step. Most colleges have moved back their deadline, however, some have not.

“Traditionally, May 1 is national decision day,” said Menke. “Most four year colleges want you to commit to a school or their school by then, we’re already seeing a trend of schools pushing back their decision deadline until May 15, or in many cases June 1. Colleges recognize that some people just simply won’t have the information to make those informed choices until then.”

In order to try to help students with the stress of taking their next step, counselors at MCHS meet with students and try to put them at ease. While there is not much that they can do for them, they mostly work to comfort and support the seniors.

“We are doing our best to provide meaningful help,” said Menke. “Meet people halfway, listen to their needs, listen to their wants, hear out the insecurities, hear the strengths, hear the things they are excited about, and try to find options that make sense for them in the short term, that aren’t going to bid that tap that capitalize on those things that they are concerned about.”

As the end of the school year nears, the class of 2024 prepares to enter into the world as adults. Whether heading off to college, going into the workforce, taking a gap year, or still being undecided, the next step after high school for many still needs to be decided upon.