A final-hour beating of the bushes is underway for prospective college students to complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms. It’s already very late in the process, but meeting the June 30 deadline could still help defray college costs.

Due to the botched rollout to update the FAFSA website, an already tedious application process became worse, with technical glitches causing delays and frustrations nationwide. In Hawaii, as of May 24, only 40.4% of the high school class of 2024 had completed a FAFSA, nearly 20% less than last year. FAFSA, unfortunately, is needed for many programs that award scholarships — so students, it is worth muddling through to completion.