The new 2024-2025 FAFSA will have a streamlined application and an easier path to grant eligibility. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) launched Dec. 31, 2023.
Here are a few changes:
1. The application is shortened from 108 to 36 questions, so less time to complete the application.
2. Tax information will be transferred directly from the IRS. In past years, the Data Retrieval Tool was optional. It is now MANDATORY. The application requires tax information from the prior-prior year. The 2022 tax year will be required for the 24-25 application.
3. Families with an adjusted gross income of $60,000 and owns farms or small businesses with fewer than 100 employees will have to include their farms or businesses as part of their financial assets.
4. Anyone who provides information for the FAFSA is considered a “contributor.” All contributors must provide consent to process the application. For example, if the student’s parents are married, BOTH parents must provide consent to providing information on the FAFSA. Otherwise, the application will not be processed.
5. Parents will be sent an invitation link via email to complete their portion of the application. The application no longer allows student and parent(s) to complete the application together. Please ensure that the email address linked to the FSA ID is up to date. If the parent(s) fail to complete their portion of the FAFSA within 30 days, the student must start a new application.
6. The Student Aid Index (SAI) will replace Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to determine a student’s ability to pay for college and the amount of financial aid they can receive. The SAI, like the EFC, is used to calculate need-based financial aid. Your need will be calculated by subtracting the Student Aid Index from the school’s cost of attendance.
The makeover is meant to correct the assumption that the EFC calculation equals the amount your family can contribute, as the name suggests. Most families pay more than the EFC amount after taking loans to fill aid gaps. In reality, the EFC (soon to be SAI) is an index number used by college financial aid offices to determine your need for aid. The information you include on the FAFSA determines your SAI.
7. The need-based Pell Grant gives students free college aid that doesn’t need to be repaid. With the new FAFSA formula, 610,000 additional students from low-income backgrounds will be eligible for Pell Grants who wouldn’t have been under the previous form. Additionally, 1.5 million students will be newly eligible for the maximum Pell award: $7,395 per year.
8. Prospective students will be able to list up to 20 colleges on their online FAFSA for 2024-25, up from 10 in previous years. The schools you list will automatically receive a copy of the information you submit in the FAFSA, which they can use to calculate your financial aid package.
9. Parents will no longer get a break for having multiple children in college at the same time. The new FAFSA will still ask a question about other people in a student’s household attending college, but it won’t be figured into federal financial aid calculations.