2024-25 FAFSA Changes

The FAFSA Simplification Act was passed by Congress in 2020 and represents a significant overhaul of the processes and systems used to award federal financial aid. This includes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, need analysis that determines federal aid eligibility, changes in terminology, and many policies and procedures for schools that participate in federal student aid programs.

The FAFSA Simplification Act requires a number of changes to the FAFSA, including a more streamlined application process and a better user experience when completing the FAFSA. Barriers to financial aid will also be reduced for students in certain populations (e.g., homeless and unaccompanied youth, incarcerated students, English language learners, and students from low-income backgrounds).

The maximum number of questions on the FAFSA has been reduced from 108 to 46. With the update to a dynamic FAFSA, students and contributors will only see the questions that are relevant to their situation.

In addition to English and Spanish, the 2024-2025 FAFSA will be available in the 11 most common languages spoken by English learner students and their parents.

Contributor is a new term being introduced on the 2024–25 FAFSA form. A contributor refers to anyone who is required to provide information on a student’s FAFSA. A contributor could be the student, student’s parent (biological or adoptive), step-parent, or spouse. Questions on the FAFSA will be used to identify contributors.

If someone is determined to be a contributor, but does not provide the needed information on the student’s FAFSA, the student’s financial aid eligibility cannot be determined.

Being a contributor does not mean that they are financially responsible for the student’s educational costs, but it does mean the contributor must provide the required information on the student’s FAFSA.

As in the past, dependency for tax filing purposes is not the same as dependency for financial aid purposes.

Which parent is the contributor for a dependent student if divorced or separated?

Students who are considered dependent for financial aid purposes must provide financial information for the parent (contributor) and step-parent (if applicable, also a contributor) who provided the most financial support to the student during the past 12 months.

Which parent(s) are listed if parents are unmarried, but living together?

For parents of dependent students that are unmarried, but who live together, both parents will be contributors on the FAFSA.

When is a spouse a contributor?

The spouse of a dependent student’s parent will be a contributor if the parent and their spouse were not married in 2022, but were married at the time the FAFSA was completed or if the parents were married in 2022 but filed their 2022 federal income tax returns separately.

The spouse of an independent student will be a contributor if the student and their spouse were not married in 2022, but were married at the time the FAFSA was completed or were married in 2022 but filed their 2022 federal income tax returns separately.

Contributors will receive an email informing them that they’ve been identified as such, and will need to log in using their own FSA ID (username/password) to provide information on the student’s FAFSA and to provide consent to use the IRS Direct Data Exchange*.

The FAFSA will not be fully complete or submitted until all contributors have provided their information and their consent. If there are multiple contributors on the FAFSA, only the final contributor will be able to submit the FAFSA on behalf of the student. Once begun, the FAFSA will be held in a "pending" status for 45 days. If information is still needed after 45 days, the FAFSA will be deleted and a new FAFSA will need to be completed by the student and all contributors.

In a small number of cases, students and contributors will have to enter their tax information manually, but for most, the data will automatically transfer into the FAFSA from the IRS.

*The IRS Data Retrieval Tool is being replaced with an automatic data transfer (Direct Data Exchange) from the IRS and it will no longer be optional.

Child support received for any family member for the most recently completed calendar year (January 1 - December 31) must be reported.

• If the FAFSA is being completed on December 15, 2023, child support received would be reported for calendar year 2022.
• If the FAFSA is being completed on March 15, 2024, child support received would be reported for calendar year 2023.

If asked, families must report the value of their small business or family farm. If the family farm is the family’s primary residence, determine the total net value of the farm assets and subtract the net value of the primary residence to determine the final value of their farm assets.

Net value of all small businesses, regardless of the number of business employees, must be reported as part of the family’s assets.

A major change in terminology is moving away from the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to the Student Aid Index (SAI). The SAI doesn’t represent a dollar amount. The use of SAI more accurately describes the number used to determine financial aid eligibility. The SAI can be a negative number, as low as -1500.

Students who are experiencing unusual circumstances will be provided with a conditional SAI and will need to follow up with the Financial Aid Office for assistance.

Families will still provide a response to the number of family members in college. However, this information will not be used in the SAI calculation.

Federal Pell Grant eligibility determination will take into consideration the federal poverty level and household structure. This makes it quicker and easier for people to know they’re eligible.

Maximum Federal Pell Grant eligibility:

• Families making less than 175% of the federal poverty level
• Student is a single parent making less than 225% of the federal poverty level

Minimum Federal Pell Grant eligibility:

• Student is a single parent making less than 400% of the federal poverty level
• Married student with dependents making less than 350% of federal poverty level
• Student is dependent child of single parent making less than 325% of federal poverty level
• Single, or married student, with no dependents making less than 275% of federal poverty level

Federal Pell Grant awards between the minimum and maximum amounts will be determined using the SAI.

When the 2024–2025 FAFSA does become available, students and their families will be able to complete the FAFSA and will receive a confirmation email. This confirmation email will provide an estimated Student Aid Index (SAI) and estimated Federal Pell Grant eligibility. However, no database matches will happen at this time. When database matches are done, student will be contacted if additional information needs to be provided to schools. Schools listed on the FAFSA will not receive access to that information until some time in January. Updates to the information provided on the FAFSA cannot be made by the student or the school until then.