- NOTE: Though the release of the FAFSA® is delayed for 2024-2025, the Department of Education will continue to make it available on October 1 starting again with the 2025-2026 FAFSA®.
Thank you for your patience. We will update this information as more details are provided by the U.S. Department of Education .
**PLEASE NOTE ALL INFORMATION DISCUSSED ON THIS PAGE APPLIES TO THE 2024–2025 ACADEMIC YEAR**
The FAFSA Simplification Act represents a significant overhaul of the processes and systems used to offer federal student aid starting with the 2024-2025 academic year. This includes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®), needs analysis (means of determining aid eligibility), and many policies and procedures for schools that participate in federal student aid programs. The law will affect every school that offers assistance from the federal student aid programs.
Additionally, the law has the potential to affect eligibility for state financial aid programs that use FAFSA® data to determine whether certain criteria are met.
**2024-2025 FAFSA® Available in December 2023**
Historically, the FAFSA® has been available beginning October 1st each year. For the 2024-2025 academic year, the FAFSA® will be available in December 2023. Updates on an exact date will be posted here when announced.
The benefits of the FAFSA Simplification Act for students include:
The FAFSA ® will reduce the maximum number of questions from 108 to 46. The FAFSA® on the web is dynamic, meaning some students will not be presented with all 46 questions. This streamlined format will simplify the application process and make it easier for students and their families to apply for financial aid.
The new FAFSA® is student-driven, meaning the student's answers on their section will determine who will be a contributor (in addition to the student). Students will need the contributor’s name, date of birth, Social Security Number (SSN), and email address to invite them to complete their required portion of the FAFSA®. Contributors will need to provide personal and financial information on their section of the FAFSA®.
If a dependent student's parents are unmarried and living together, both parents will be contributors, will need to have separate Federal Student Aid (FSA) IDs, and need to provide consent. Dependent students whose parents filed their U.S. income tax return as Married Filing Jointly only require one parent contributor to complete the FAFSA®. If the student's parents filed separately, both parents will be considered contributors and therefore need separate FSA IDs.
If an independent student is married and filed separately, both individuals are contributors and must have FSA IDs.
To create an FSA ID, please visit the Create Account webpage one the Federal Student Aid website.
For the FAFSA® to process successfully, consent must be provided by all required contributors (student, parent, parent spouse, and/or student spouse) on the FAFSA®. This allows the Federal Tax Information (FTI) transferred from the IRS to be provided to higher education institutions, state higher education agencies, and designated scholarship organizations. Consent is provided once for the academic year and cannot be revoked in that academic year. This consent is necessary even if the contributor does not have a Social Security Number (SSN), did not file taxes, or filed taxes in another country.
Determining what parent(s) to include on the FAFSA® is changing. Income and assets are to be reported for the parent who provides the most financial support even if the student does not live with that parent or lives with the other parent.
In previous years, if a student’s parents were divorced or separated, the parent with whom the student lived the most in the past 12 months prior to filing the FAFSA® was to be listed; however, this is no longer the primary consideration.
Students and families will see a different measure of their ability to pay for college, and they will experience a change in how eligibility for the federal student aid programs is determined. The new needs analysis formula removes the number of family members in college from the calculation, allows a minimum Student Aid Index (SAI) of -1500, and implements separate eligibility determination criteria for Federal Pell Grants.
Federal Student Aid has released a Federal Student Aid Estimator to help students find out how much federal student aid they may be eligible for using an estimate of the SAI.
The FAFSA Simplification Act will expand the Federal Pell Grant to more students and will link eligibility to family size and the federal poverty guidelines that were in effect during the tax year being requested on the FAFSA ® . Additionally, for students who qualify, the amount of Federal Pell Grant will be based on enrollment intensity according to the chart below.
| Credit Hours | Enrollment Level (Old) | Enrollment Intensity (New) |
|---|---|---|
| 12 (or more) | Full-Time (100%) | 100% |
| 11 10 9 | Three-Quarter Time (75%) | 92% 83% 75% |
| 8 7 6 | Half-Time (50%) | 67% 58% 50% |
| 5 4 3 2 1 | Less-Than-Half-Time (25%) | 42% 33% 25% 17% 8% |
Though t he FAFSA® will ask how many of the student’s household members are in college, the answer will not be calculated into the Student Aid Index (SAI). As such, undergraduate students with siblings in college may see a change in their federal aid eligibility. Guidance for how a student should report their family size will align more closely with what was reported on the student’s/parent’s tax returns.
A new IRS Direct Data Exchange (DDX) will replace the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) built into the FAFSA® for importing student, parent, parent spouse, and/or student spouse Federal Tax Information (FTI). Previously, users had the option to enter their tax information manually or use the IRS DRT.
All persons on the FAFSA® must provide consent for the Department of Education to receive tax information or confirmation of non-filing status directly from the IRS. In a very small number of cases, students and families will have to enter their tax data manually, but for most, that data will be automatically transferred into the application. This change makes it easier to complete the FAFSA® and reduces the number of questions to be answered.
When applicable, families must now report the value of their small business or family farm. If the family farm includes the principal place of residence, students should determine the total net value of all farm assets and subtract the net value of their principal residence to determine the final value of their farm assets.