The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) is getting an update for the 2024-25 school year due to the FAFSA® Simplification Act, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act from Dec. 27, 2020. Here is what you need to know:
Launch date
The 2024-25 FAFSA® is expected to launch sometime before December 31, not on October 1 as in previous years. The exact day in December is still unknown; however, you will be notified by email once the FAFSA® becomes available. This is a one-time change; releases will return to October 1 in future years.
The new FAFSA® will:
- determine your financial aid for summer II 2024, fall 2024, spring 2025 and summer I 2025.
- be more streamlined with fewer questions.
- be updated with new information and terms.
- offer increased eligibility for the Federal Pell Grant.
- be streamlined with fewer questions and automatically pull your tax info from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
New Terminology and Info
- Contributor is a new term and refers to anyone providing info on the FAFSA®, including the student, the student’s spouse, a biological or adopted parent or a stepparent.
- Contributors are required to provide information on the FAFSA® form.
- Students will need the contributor’s name, date of birth, Social Security Number (SSN), and email address to invite them to complete the required portion of the FAFSA®. |
- Contributors will need their own FSA ID.
- Contributors must provide consent and approval to have their federal tax information directly transferred from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to the FAFSA®.
- If all contributors do not provide consent and approval, the student will not be eligible for federal financial aid.
- Student Aid Index (SAI) is replacing Expected Family Contribution and can be a negative number.
- FAFSA Submission Summary is what you will receive once you have completed and submitted the FAFSA® and will replace the Student Aid Report (SAR).
- More students will now be eligible for the Pell Grant.
- Small family-owned businesses and farms are now counted as assets.
- Families will no longer benefit from having multiple students in college.
- The FAFSA® will now be completed by the parent who provided more financial support in the past year rather than the one the student lived with the most.
- The parent who completes the FAFSA® is changing for divorced or separated parents.
Get Ready
Even though the 2024-25 FAFSA® will not be available until December, you can prepare now by creating a FSA ID and have your contributors do the same. For the more FAFSA® updates, please visit studentaid.gov.
Federal Student Aid Estimator
This tool provides an estimate of how much federal student aid you may be eligible to receive for the 2024-25 academic year.