Commentary: Struggling to get help with college through the FAFSA? Here’s why you shouldn’t give up

Applying to college and navigating the financial aid process is never easy, especially for first-generation students. But this year has been unusually challenging because of problems with the rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.

As the leader of an organization working to ensure that California students get the financial aid that will allow them to achieve their college dreams, I’m deeply a precipitous drop in aid applications compared with last year, second only to Tennessee’s as of early March. The Times huge year-over-year declines in the number of L.A. area high school students completing their applications.