Students who utilize the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form can expect to see some updates in the coming months.
FAFSA is a form completed by current and prospective college students that determines eligibility for financial aid.
The FAFSA Simplification Act was enacted into law in 2021 as part of a larger appropriations bill. The act amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 and will become effective for the 2024-2025 Award Year, according to the Federal Student Aid office in the Department of Education.
The first change to FAFSA is a reconfiguration of the methodology that determines aid, from the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to the Student Aid Index (SAI). The switch will change the “need analysis” involving the number of family members and will allow for a minimum SAI of about $1,500. The change also enables financial aid administrators more insight into determining aid for students with “especially challenging situations,” according to a document from the Financial Aid Tool Kit.
Additionally, there will be two different kinds of Pell Grants, a maximum grant and a minimum grant. The Maximum Pell Grant will be distributed to those who qualify based on family size, adjusted gross income (AGI) and poverty guidelines. A Minimum Pell Grant may be distributed to students with an SAI greater than the Maximum Pell Grant.
The updated FAFSA will also expand eligibility for the Federal Pell Grant program by linking eligibility to family size and federal poverty level, according to the Federal Student Aid office website.
One aspect of FAFSA that will be going away is the “sibling benefit,” which previously gave consideration to parents with two children attending college concurrently, according to an article by College Raptor. Previously, aid would be divided by two if there were two college-attending siblings; if the EFC was $15,000 with one sibling, the EFC would be $7,500 for both students.
FAFSA’s new form will additionally remove questions pertaining to Selective Service registration, drug convictions, as well as sex, race and ethnicity. The factors will no longer have an impact on aid eligibility. Additionally, confined or incarcerated individuals will no longer be banned from Pell Grant eligibility.
The total number of questions on the form will be reduced from 100 down to 50, according to a Sept 18., 2023 Fox 26 Houston article.
Due to the changes, the FAFSA form will not be released on the traditional day of Oct. 1, but instead will be released in December.
Nathan Hope can be contacted at [email protected]
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.
