2024-25 FAFSA Updates

The Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) is CHANGING for the 2024-25 aid year.

In December 2020 Congress passed The Consolidated Appropriations Act, which contained the FAFSA Simplification Act. This Act is changing the FAFSA to a shorter, more straightforward format to provide students and families increased access to federal aid. This redesign is the first major update to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in over 40 years. Changes include updates to the form, need analysis, terminology, and policies and procedures for schools that participate in federal student aid programs.

In an effort to communicate changes, provide resources and trainings, and ensure awareness and excellence in service and support, the Office of Student Financial Aid will be using this page to serve as the primary source of updates, resources and FAFSA news for students, families, and campus partners.

What’s Not Changing:

  1. The FAFSA remains required annually for federal aid consideration and is available to U.S. Citizens or Eligible Non-Citizens.
  2. Questions introduced in 2023-24 about the applicant’s sex, race, and ethnicity have no effect on federal student aid eligibility and remain only for statistical purposes. [These items do not transmit to the schools listed on your FAFSA.]
  3. Dependency status questions to determine if your parents must provide their information remain the same.
  4. FAFSA will still request prior-prior year tax information. Families that had significant reduction in income due to extenuating circumstances can still request special circumstances review.
  5. ECU’s Priority FAFSA deadline is still March 1st. New Freshmen with completed Financial Aid records at ECU can expect to receive an award package starting in early March, while packaging for returning students would begin in late May 2024.

What is changing:

Due to the significant changes, the 2024-25 FAFSA will not be available until sometime in December 2023. (Note: It is expected to return to open on October 1 for the 2025-26 FAFSA in October 2024.)

The FAFSA will reduce the maximum number of questions (reduced from 108 to 46). And because the FAFSA on the Web is dynamic, some students won’t even be presented with all 46 questions.

FSA IDs & Consent

The FAFSA now requires consent. Both students and parents, spouses, or other contributors must create an FSA ID before completing the form and have to separately log in to fill out their sections in order to consent to their information being used on the FAFSA.

  • Consent cannot be revoked, but must be given each time the FAFSA is filed.
  • Providing consent allows the Department of Education to use your name and social security number to match with the IRS so the IRS may share your tax information with the Department of Education to determine a student’s eligibility for federal student aid.
  • This change makes it easier to complete the FAFSA and reduces the number of questions to be answered.
  • The FSA ID will take up to 72 hours to receive, so students cannot request their FSA ID and complete the FAFSA in the same day.

Wait, what’s a “contributor?”

A new term being introduced on the 2024-25 FAFSA, a “contributor” refers to anyone who is required to provide information on a student’s form (such as a parent/stepparent or spouse). A student’s or parent’s answers on the FAFSA will determine which contributors (if any) will be required to provide information.

Contributors will receive an email informing them that they’ve been identified as such, and will need to log in using their own FSA ID (if they don’t already have one) to provide the required information on the student’s FAFSA.

Being a contributor does not mean they are financially responsible for the student’s education costs, but it does mean the contributor must provide information on the FAFSA or the application will be incomplete and the student will not be eligible for federal student aid.

 

Students will now be able to list up to 20 colleges and universities (previously could only list to 10 at a time).

 

Available in 11 languages. The 2024-25 application will be expanded from being only available in English & Spanish to include the 11 most common languages spoken by English learner students and their parents.

 

Foster, homeless, and unaccompanied youth will be able to complete the form with provisional independent student determination and receive a calculated Student Aid Index (SAI).

Expanded Eligibility for Federal Financial Aid

The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) will be replaced by the Student Aid Index (SAI). The SAI formula removes the number of family members in college, reduces the number of assets families need to report, and allows a minimum SAI of -1500.

What’s a Student Aid Index (SAI)?

With the new FAFSA revisions, the “Expected Family Contribution (EFC)” is being replaced with the “Student Aid Index (SAI).” This name more accurately describes the number used to determine aid eligibility and, unlike the EFC, the SAI may be a negative number down to -1500. EFC was based on your family’s assets and income. SAI is instead based on your family’s assets, income, parent educational credits, and your zip code, which shows your area’s federal poverty level.

 

The number in college will not be used to to calculate SAI.

Previously, the FAFSA accounted for the number of household members attending college as part of the EFC calculation, dividing it proportionately to determine federal aid eligibility. Beginning with the 2024-25 FAFSA, the application will still ask how many household members are in college, but your answer will not factor into the SAI calculation.

 

Which parent needs to be on the FAFSA?

For dependent students, financial information was previously needed from the parent(s) the student had lived with the most in the last 12 months. With the new FAFSA, financial information will be required from the parent(s) who provided the most financial support to the student.

  • The parent who provides the most financial support should complete it.  
  • If one parent pays child support, that parent should complete the FAFSA if the child support amounts to more than half of the student’s support.  
  • If a dependent student’s parents are unmarried and living together, both parents will need to complete the FAFSA as contributors. 
  • If the parent who provides most financial support is remarried, that parent and the stepparent’s income should be on the FAFSA, even if they were not yet married on the requested tax year. 

 

 

 

How to Prepare

  • Ensure you have your FSA ID ready:
    • If you’ve filed before, you already have an FSA ID.
    • First-time filers must create an FSA ID on the Federal Student Aid website.
    • An FSA ID is required to file a FAFSA, and both students and parents need one. If parents file their taxes separately, they both need an FSA ID. If they file taxes jointly, they only need one FSA ID.
    • New FSA IDs may take up to 3 days to be received, so plan ahead.

How do I create an FSA ID? 

To create an FSA ID, go to StudentAid.gov and click “Create an FSA ID.” You will need to provide: 

  • Social Security number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) 
  • Full name 
  • Date of birth 
  • Email address 
  • Mobile phone number