2024-25 FAFSA Changes

FAFSA will open sometime around December 2023 for the 2024-25 Academic Year. Please pay attention to your emails and campus notifications for specifics to when 2024-25 FAFSA will open. Additionally, pay close attention to any other state or scholarship deadlines.

Everyone who is a contributor on the FAFSA form must create a separate FSA ID and password to access and complete the online FAFSA form. Contributors who don’t have a social security number can still create a studentaid.gov account to fill out their sections on the FAFSA form.

Additionally, everyone using their FSA ID for the 2024-25 FAFSA will need to go through a two-step verification process. When setting up your FSA ID, use email, text, or authentication apps for added security. This means students and their parents/spouses should communicate if they're helping with different roles in filling out the FAFSA.

Contributor: any individual required to provide consent and approval for federal tax information (FTI) along with their signature on the FAFSA^® form, including the student; the student’s spouse; a biological or adoptive parent; or the parent’s spouse (stepparent).

Student Aid Index (SAI): replaces the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) as a formal evaluation of a student’s approximate financial resources to contribute toward their postsecondary education for a specific award year.

The 2024-25 application will now be available in 11 of the most common languages spoken in the United States.

The new FAFSA will be streamlined, reducing the amount of questions being asked from 108 previously to 46 or less with the new simplified FAFSA.

Starting in 2024-25, all contributors on the FAFSA must consent to the Department of Education receiving tax information or confirmation of non-filing status directly from the IRS. This change simplifies the FAFSA process for most applicants. Consent and approval for the transfer of federal tax information are required to be eligible for federal student aid.  Even if one of your contributors does not have a social security number, did not file taxes, or filed taxes outside of the U.S., consent and approval are still required.

Families below certain income levels will automatically qualify for Pell Grants, streamlining the aid distribution process.

There are significant changes to the asset contribution components in the SAI formula.

• The net worth of a business is no longer limited to those with more than 100 full-time employees. Applicants will be asked to report the net worth of all businesses, regardless of the size of the business.
• Net worth of a farm now includes the value of a family farm. However, the value of a family’s primary residence is still excluded. The net worth of a farm may include the fair market value of land, buildings, livestock, unharvested crops, and machinery actively used in investment farms or agricultural or commercial activities, minus any debts held against those assets.

The number of family members in college is no longer a factor in the need analysis. Schools may use professional judgment to adjust other data items related to COA or SAI that reflect costs associated with additional family members enrolled in college.