Applying for financial aid for college got a lot harder this month, in the thick of application season, but it took federal agencies nearly a week to explain what was happening.

To get aid for college from federal or state governments, as well as from colleges, students and their parents must fill out the Fafsa (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The notoriously complicated form, which is longer than the typical 1040 tax form, collects detailed information from students and families about income, expenses and taxes. On March 3, families logging onto the website for federal aid found that a key component of the online application had stopped functioning.

The component, known as the Data Retrieval Tool, automatically fills in a Fafsa application with information from an applicant’s tax return, via a data connection with the Internal Revenue Service. Without the tool, applicants have to transcribe tax information from their old returns or order tax transcripts from the I.R.S. (which can take several weeks).

Twitter started to fill with frustrated messages from applicants wondering when the tool would be back up. Student advocacy organizations, such as the National College Access Network (N.C.A.N.), pleaded with the Department of Education and the I.R.S. to explain the situation and resolve it as quickly as possible, but received no response. N.C.A.N. and others began urging families to contact their elected representatives.