Inside Report (6)

There's good news and bad news for college students seeking financial help for next year.

The bad news: Some federal aid forms won't be available in November, as expected. They've been hung up by a law suit filed by the National Coalition of Independent College and University Students. The case will determine among other things whether students filing several scholarship forms must pay separate application fees for each. Student aid officials say the dispute will be resolved soon and forms should be available sometime after the first of the year. However, a delay in the awarding of grants is inevitable.

The good news: The amount of scholarship money available isn't being cut, so applicants and their parents shouldn't read the delay as a drop in aid.m