If you’ve ever filled out the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA), you’re probably familiar with the stress, confusion, and possible tears that often come with it.
Hope future students won’t feel your pain.
The Department of Education (ED) is preparing to release a new simplified FAFSA later this year, and an updated draft form is available for public comment.
Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020, which aims to reduce the number of questions on the application and make Pell grants and other federal aid more accessible.
The new application is expected to go live for the 2024-25 school year on December 1 this year, delaying the typical financial aid application and package cycle, which typically begins with the opening of the FAFSA on October 1. .
You can view a PDF version of the new app and submit your feedback to ED by May 23. These are some of the main changes.
Elimination of questions and expanded eligibility
Students and families completing the FAFSA for the 2023-24 school year will see some of the changes already in place.
The Selective Service Registration, which required students under the age of 26 to register for the project, was removed as part of the FAFSA simplification law and has not been on the form since 2021. Students are no longer required to register for Selective Service to receive federal benefits. aid.
The FAFSA has already eliminated questions about drug-related convictions. Students with such credentials are now eligible to receive Pell grants.
As of July of this year, students incarcerated in federal or state prison and enrolled in approved prison education programs are eligible to receive Pell Grants. Students who have been subject to an involuntary civil commitment for a sexual offense will also be eligible for the Pell Scholarship.
Simplified information entry
Gone are the days of digging through your tax returns to complete the FAFSA. Part of the FAFSA Simplification Act required the form to allow users to obtain their federal tax information directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
New questions have already been added to the current FAFSA, asking students about their gender, race and ethnicity for research purposes, so that they are not considered for aid decisions.
Expected family contribution is converted to student aid rate
Previously, one of the main purposes of the FAFSA was to determine your Expected Family Contribution (EFC), the estimated amount you and your family could pay each year. The number gave your school and federal aid administrators an idea of how much financial support to offer.
The Student Aid Index (SAI) will serve the same purpose, but will use a different formula. Unlike SCF, SAI will not include the number of family members in college as part of the calculation. Federal Student Aid (FSA) has released a draft of the calculations that will be used to determine the SAI.
Your SAI could be negative, up to -$1,500. This allows colleges and aid administrators to determine which students are most in need, rather than a group of students with an EFC of $0, according to the National Association of Financial Aid Administrators at non-profit.
Students with an SAI between $0 and -$1,500 will be eligible for the maximum Pell Grant, which is $7,395 for the 2023-24 school year.
Aid administrators will subtract a student’s SAI from their determined cost of attendance to assess eligibility and aid amounts, in accordance with the FSA.
Pell Grant Calculation Changes
In addition to changing who is eligible to receive Pell Grants, the new FAFSA changes the way Pell Grant amounts are calculated. Aid administrators currently use a table that takes into account your SCF and the cost of attendance to determine your Pell grant amount.
As mentioned, students with an SAI of $0 or less will be eligible for the maximum Pell Grant amount, which is $7,395 for the 2023-24 school year.
If your SAI is below the maximum Pell Grant amount, you may be eligible for a smaller grant, according to an FSA factsheet.
If your SAI is above the maximum Pell Grant amount, you may still qualify for the minimum amount based on your family size, adjusted gross income, and poverty guidelines. The lowest Pell Grant amount was $750 for full-time students for the 2023-24 school year.
This article It was originally published in English by Cameron McNair for our sister network CNBC.com. For more on CNBC, head here.