In every forge, the bellows are sacred. They control the air, shape the fire, and set the rhythm of the work. When they fail, when air chokes, the timing stutters, the entire process falters. Heat doesn’t reach the metal, hammer strikes miss their mark, and the workpiece cools in the wrong form. That is the state of enrollment in the aftermath of the 2023–24 FAFSA cycle. And in the wake of continued disruptions in Financial Aid, Department of Education, and other similar hurricanes. This chapter enters the forge during a misfire. The redesigned FAFSA, meant to streamline access and modernize aid, instead buckled under its own weight. What should have been a cleaner intake valve became a jammed bellows, choking off application momentum, delaying critical decisions, and obscuring visibility for students and institutions alike. The damage wasn’t theoretical. It was personal and uneven. Low-income and first-generation students, the ones who depend on FAFSA access the most, were hit hardest. Trusted systems turned silent. Aid estimates went missing. Timelines that once guided decision-making became unreliable and, in some cases, irrelevant.
