Markese Trèjion Seaborn is set to begin classes at Minnesota North College in Hibbing next month, and he's still waiting to find out how much he'll have to pay.

"I'm sort of just wandering in the dark, just waiting, checking my email every day," said Seaborn, 18, of Minneapolis.

Like thousands of other students in Minnesota and across the country, Seaborn is caught in the middle of an especially chaotic college admissions cycle.

The U.S. Department of Education this year updated the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the most popular form used to determine which scholarships, grants and loans students should receive. But the rollout was mired in problems that meant schools received students' financial information months later than expected — and some students are still trying to determine their college costs weeks before the fall semester is set to begin.

"A lot of students are in similar situations to Markese, where they have completed the forms, they have completed all the work, and they are just waiting to get those financial aid award letters so they know what they're in for," said Isaiah Allen, senior director of external relations for College Possible Minnesota, a nonprofit that aims to help students from historically underinvested communities get into college.

In a typical year, more than 225,000 Minnesotans apply for financial aid by filling out the FAFSA. The U.S. Department of Education shares their information with schools, whose financial aid workers compile award letters that outline which types of assistance they can expect to receive and how much they can expect to pay out of pocket.

Students often receive their award letters by the spring. Many universities set May decision deadlines, though some community college set later dates. The delays have been "putting a real hardship on students to make good informed decisions," Allen said.

The chaotic rollout of the new form has been the subject of tense congressional hearings. The head of the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid office stepped down earlier this year. The U.S. House and Senate are considering bills aimed at ensuring the form opens up earlier in future years.

In the meantime, colleges across the country have been scrambling to try to send aid offers to students who hope to start taking classes this fall.

Leaders at Minnesota North College said they received 1,904 FAFSA applications for the upcoming school year. By this time last year, they had processed 2,098, "so we are lagging last year despite our enrollment being on track for a moderate increase at this time," Financial Aid Director Jodi Pontinen said in a statement.

"As you can imagine, our financial aid department is working hard to get FAFSAs processed as soon as we receive them despite unresolved IT issues from the Department of Education," Pontinen said. "Up until this point we have only processed a limited number of Estimated Award packages."

Seaborn settled on Minnesota North College's Hibbing campus because it was the perfect distance away — close enough that he can head home for a weekend but not so close that he'll get surprise visitors. He hopes to start his studies there and transfer elsewhere to complete a program focusing on marine biology.

Tuition and fees for a full-time, in-state student attending that campus typically run about $6,000 per year. Seaborn knows he'll qualify for a federal grant, but he's still waiting to learn if he'll receive free tuition through the North Star Promise, a new program that covers costs for students whose families make less than $80,000 per year.

"It would make things a lot easier for me," Seaborn said, adding that he hopes to get his award letter "sooner rather than later."