​As the U.S. Department of Education has made transformational changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form for the upcoming 2024-2025 award year, the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) has experienced challenges in transitioning the Maryland College Aid Processing System (MDCAPS) to adjust to the federal changes. MHEC has identified several issues in uploading completed MHEC One-Apps, inconsistencies in award amounts regarding the Guaranteed Access Grant (GAG) and Educational Assistance Grant (EAG), and errors with the document management process.

To resolve these issues, and to incorporate all new records received into the system to make awards, MHEC will be shutting down MDCAPS for technical maintenance, in coordination with our IT vendor, beginning today, Monday, May 20, 2024, at 3pm. The MDCAPS system will reopen to the public on Thursday, May 23, 2024, at 3 pm.

The goal is that when the system reopens to the public on Thursday morning, the issues identified to date will be resolved so that we may move forward and quickly award initial and renewal students who completed the FAFSA or MHEC One-App by last week’s priority deadline (May 15, 2024).

We recognize that this is an extremely stressful financial aid season, and we appreciate your patience.

As always, if you have any questions, please call 410-767-3300, 800-974-0203 or email osfamail.mhec@maryland.gov.