Changes to FAFSA

The 2024-25 FAFSA

Congress has instituted the FAFSA Simplification Act, which is a sweeping redesign of the processes and systems used to award federal student aid. As the changes are implemented our office will work to assist students and their families through this process.

Changes in Terminology

  • The EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) will now be the SAI (Student Aid Index).
  • Room and Board will now be referred to as Food and Housing.
  • Parents and/or a student's spouse will now be referred to as Contributors.
  • The Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) has been renamed the Direct Data Exchange (DDX).
  • The Student Aid Report (SAR) is now the FAFSA Submission Summary (FSS)

FAFSA Availability

  • The 2024-2025 FAFSA application is available online Students and contributors may now log into their initial applications to submit corrections, such as adding signatures and providing permission for data to be transferred to their applications by the IRS.  For updates on processing issues, please visit the 2024-25 FAFSA Issue Alerts website
  • Due to the delay in the delivery of 2024-25 FAFSA to schools, only the CSS Profile, and any other suppplemental documents submitted, will be used to estimate federal and institutional aid eligibility for incoming student financial aid packages. While the FAFSA will eventually be needed to finalize these packages, it is unlikely that it will change the estimates greatly unless different information is reported on this application.   Students should file the FAFSA as soon as they are able; the CSS Profile, and any other requested supporting documents, should be submitted by the stated deadlines.

Changes in the FAFSA Itself

  • All students and contributors will be required to give consent for the FAFSA to pull your tax information from the IRS.
  • In cases of divorced or separated parents, the custodial parent is determined by whichever parent contributes more to the student. If the amount contributed is the same then the parent with the higher income will be used.
  • The number of students in college will no longer impact the SAI.
  • All students and contributors will be required to have their own FSA ID to complete their portion of the FAFSA.
  • Parents without an SSN can now create and FSA ID and no longer need to sign a paper copy. Follow this link for more information on getting an FSA ID without an SSN
  • Students can now list up to 20 schools on their FAFSA rather than the previous 10.

FAQs