FAFSA Simplification
The FAFSA Simplification Act aims to expand access to federal student aid, make it easier for students and families to complete the FAFSA®, and provide a more accurate determination of financial need. It represents a significant change to the processes and systems used to award federal student aid starting with the 2024–25 award year. This includes updates to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form, need analysis, and many policies and procedures for schools that participate in federal student aid programs.
The 2024-25 FAFSA is now live. You can complete it at fafsa.gov. Please note that the Department of Education will not begin to send your FAFSA information to schools for review until mid-March.
Due to the later FAFSA release date, the Office of Financial Aid priority deadline date has been extended to May 1, 2024 for the 2024-2025 academic year. We strongly recommend that you complete your FAFSA by March 15, 2024 to avoid delays in processing.
The FAFSA release date should return to October 1 for the 2025-2026 academic year and subsequent years.
Our office will start mailing financial aid offers to new incoming students in the Spring of 2024 (most likely April).
Major Changes to the FAFSA Application
There will be fewer questions on the FAFSA.
The number of questions on the FAFSA will be reduced from over 100 to fewer than 50. Many of the questions will also be reworded to make them easier to understand.
A Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID (account username and password) will be required to access the FAFSA form.
Students and parents or spouses should request their FSA ID prior to starting the FAFSA. The Department of Education recommends requesting an FSA ID at least 3 days before starting the FAFSA.
Parents without a Social Security Number will be able to apply for an FSA ID and will be able to submit the FAFSA form online.
New terms are introduced: “roles”, “contributors”, and “consent”.
- Roles = Student (Applicant), Parent, and Preparer
- Each user has a role and must complete their respective section.
- Once all the required data has been provided and all the sections have been signed, any role can submit the FAFSA form.
- Contributors = Parent, Other Parent, Student Spouse, and Student (when invited by Parent or Preparer)
- The user who starts the FAFSA application will provide information to the Department of Education on who should be contacted (contributor), and the Department of Education will email them with instructions. Students cannot see details of what parents (or spouses) have completed, and parents (or spouses) cannot see the details of what students have completed.
- Contributors must provide the required information and sign their respective section for a FAFSA form to be considered complete.
- Consent (required for students to be eligible for federal student aid)
- Students, spouses, parents, and stepparents will now need to provide their consent in the new Consent to Retrieve and Disclose Federal Tax Information section of the FAFSA for students to be eligible for federal student aid. This consent will allow the IRS to share federal tax information (FTI).
- If any user on the FAFSA form does not provide consent, submission of the form will still be allowed. However, an SAI will not be calculated, which is needed to determine student aid eligibility.
The process for accessing Federal Tax Information (FTI) has changed.
Most income items for the 2024-25 Award Year can be found on a U.S. income tax return and will be imported, with an individual’s approval and consent, to the application via the FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX), eliminating the need for the applicant to self-report most income.
For students whose parents are separated or divorced, guidance on which parent income to report has changed.
The parent who provides the most financial support to the student is the parent whose income should be reported rather than the parent with whom the student lived most in the prior 12 months.
A new “Who’s My Parent?” wizard will become available sometime in February to help dependent students filing a FAFSA to identify who is the correct person they should be inviting to complete the parent/guardian financial section.
Students who qualify for a dependency override due to homelessness or not being able to access their parents’ financials, no longer need to re-certify their dependency status each year, unless their situation changes.
Applicants will be asked to report their sex, race, and ethnicity on the FAFSA itself, but students will be offered a choice of “Prefer Not to Answer”.
These questions will have no effect on federal student aid eligibility. Schools and states won’t see responses to these questions on the FAFSA.
After the FAFSA form is processed, students can correct or update their application.
Major Changes Regarding How Need is Calculated
Some of the major changes regarding how need is calculated include:
Student Aid Index (SAI) replaces Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
The SAI is a number that determines each student’s eligibility for certain types of federal student aid. UTD will also use it to determine a student’s eligibility for state and institutional aid. The SAI is calculated by using more simplified need analysis formulas that use information provided on the FAFSA and, in most cases, federal tax information retrieved directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
It will be possible for an SAI to be a negative number, with a minimum SAI of -1,500 instead of 0.
A separate eligibility determination will be made for Federal Pell Grants.
The SAI or, under certain circumstances, the adjusted gross income from the tax return(s) will be used to determine Federal Pell Grant eligibility.
The number of family members in college will be removed from the eligibility calculation, but the information will still be collected.
This may reduce need-based aid eligibility for current students with siblings in college.
The FAFSA will no longer exclude the reporting of assets for small businesses and family farms (on which the family lives).
Child support received will be included in assets and not as untaxed income.
Resources
The following links provide additional resources regarding FAFSA Simplification.
Federal Student Aid – FAFSA Simplification Act
Federal Student Aid – 2024-2025 FAFSA Roadmap
Congressional Research Service – The FAFSA Simplification Act
Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act